Health Care in North Darfur - Work Worth Doing
2009

Millennium and its partners have been in North Darfur for more than five years. It has not been easy. Resources would wax and wane and at times workers were few. All the while, like a wildfire in the dry season, the needs of the displaced, war torn people continued to grow.

To look directly at the massive task was impossible. The needs were broken down and tackled bit by bit with compassion, fortitude and ingenuity. The work continues, needs are met and communities are learning how to help themselves.

During the 4^th Quarter of 2009, our team and partners built upon on existing projects and expanded program activities to reach the largest number of beneficiaries since the program began. Here are the highlights of their quarterly report.

Overview
There are now Primary Health Care Clinics (PHCC) and/or Primary Health Units (PHU) in five different locations, serving over 157,000 people. Clinics, trainings and vaccination programs are held in and around the clinic areas. A recent USAID grant has helped tremendously with these efforts.

Reproductive and Children’s Health
A few years ago reproductive health care in this area was almost impossible to find. Trained midwives were few and far between, often only one per 100,000 people. With the inauguration of two new Primary Health Units, there is an increase in the scope and quality of reproductive health services offered in these rural areas. Each new health facility is staffed by at least one midwife, providing antenatal check-ups, delivering babies and referring complex cases to secondary-level health facilities.

The reproductive health training program, BAMA (Babies and Mothers Alive), continues to be a marked success. Groups of trained women have reported sharing course information with between 971 to 2641 women. In addition, we have sponsored a group of thirty women from different rural areas to begin a one-year training program at the El Fasher Midwifery School.

After their studies are complete, these midwives will begin to practice midwifery in their home villages. The goal of this initiative is to see significant and sustainable reductions in maternal and infant mortality in areas that have previously had no trained reproductive health care providers.

In partnership with UNICEF and the state Ministry of Health, our team implemented two EPI (Expanded Program of Immunization) campaigns in rural areas providing polio vaccinations, vitamin A and de-worming medication to children. They also distributed vitamin supplements to pregnant women.

Training the Trainers
Basic health education training was provided to an increased number of people using a new training model which extends program reach and sustainability by emphasizing community involvement. This program is instrumental in helping villagers help themselves. Every person trained becomes a catalyst for better health in their community.

Improving Health, Opening Minds, Enriching Lives
Working with Yemenis to build a better life for the marginalized
December, 2009

The 6,000 individuals who live in a tightly packed shantytown in Yemen’s capital city of Sana’a were extremely limited in their access to healthcare.  That changed in 2005 when Millennium enlisted the help of the British Embassy, the Sana’a Ministry of Health, and a Street Sweeper Association to begin a three year healthp roject in this downtrodden area. 

Millennium and its partners opened a small clinic and pharmacy right in the center of the slum. Local doctors staff the clinic, while MRDS medical and community development specialists have trained and equipped community health workers to man the front lines of health care in the shantytown.

 In 2007 the project was extended to a second site in Sana’a – also a street sweeper slum.  This time, in addition to the community health teaching project, clinic and pharmacy, this second project has been more ambitious, working with the local community in different ways.

J.K. Millennium Medical Aid and Resource Center Opens

A Model of Earthquake Resistant Construction
The First of its Kind in the Area

Since the devastating October 2005 earthquake in Northern India, when buildings, bridges, roads and even entire hillsides collapsed, there has been a renewed effort and determination to build to safer standards.  Designed to be a model of earthquake resistant construction, the first of its kind in the area, the J. K. Millennium Medical Aid and Resource Center was inaugurated On November 7, 2009.

Much of the infrastructure in this remote corner of India, including clinics, hospitals, schools and administrative buildings were destroyed in that horrendous 2005 quake.  As survivors struggled to bury their dead and tend to their wounded, they had to immediately begin clearing the rubble and erecting some kind of shelter before the advance of winter.  

Protection for families and their farm animals was of paramount importance.  After surviving the earthquake, their lives were again at risk. The onset of winter in the high mountains in Northern India can be sudden, swift and harsh.