Anyway, the search has led me to start looking around various sectors for possibilities, in the course of which I've been reading a lot about different agencies, NGOs, and approaches. After last summer's NGO, which lacked the most basic oversight or accountability and was deadlocked by personality clashes, I now realise that I've got a real soft spot if I find an organisation that stresses an open and cooperative approach to whatever their area. It's because of this that one particular NGO, Partners in Health, stuck in my head.
Partners in Health is an NGO that provides medical aid and health care to poor areas of the world using a community-based approach that goes beyond the bare bones of providing materials. They provide both medical treatment and health information and coordinate with the surrounding community - employing special "community health workers" to get out the word - in order to effectively reach the largest number of people. They also invest in the community themselves This also means that they can be very reactive to a given community's needs. After a whole semester studying social capital I've become very aware of the huge effect communities have on how available services are used and how effective they can be, and it's really great to see that knowledge filter through to provision of medical care to the poor.
Anyway, they're sending updates on their work in Haiti (they're running the hospitals in Port-Au-Prince in the name of the WHO there as well) to their network every few days. Today's was so great, I thought I'd share it with you. The update describes PIH's recent emotional support services in Haiti. It illustrates so nicely how you can incorporate a community-based approach in an aid situation without, as people argue, diverting away resources from the more necessary practical work.
In the midst of all of the distress the earthquake brought in its initial days, the immediate response of many in the countryside was to rush to Port-au-Prince to look for family and friends—a very natural response given the circumstances.
For our patients receiving treatment for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) at one of two treatment centers in the Central Plateau, this was not an option. Their illness requires a two-year treatment regimen, the first of which is administered as an inpatient. For them, leaving in search of their families was out of the question. Without communication capabilities and only listening to radio reports explaining the extent of the destruction, one can only imagine how distressing these first few days were for them.
In the days since, as cell phone service improved and patients were able to reach their families, many learned of the sudden and untimely death of their family and friends. One of our patients, Benjamin, who has been battling tuberculosis off and on for 18 years, learned that he lost 10 family members. Others lost siblings, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, cousins, friends. In their grief, they immediately started asking themselves why were they saved from this tragedy and not others? How would they continue to live? Why did some people have to die in an instant while they have been able to receive life-saving treatment for their deadly illness? Should they abandon treatment and give up on life?
The Zanmi Lasante staff at the Monseigneur Decoste Infectious Disease Pavilion at the St. Therese Hospital in Hinche immediately recognized their patients' anguish and called on the support of Zanmi Lasante's head psychologist and Director of Psychosocial Support Services, Father Eddy Eustache, to help work with their patients.
Drawing on a technique he has used at PIH's Rwanda project working with genocide survivors, Father Eddy led us in a memorial service remembering the lives of all those we had lost in this unthinkable disaster. Patients and staff alike sang songs, read scripture, shared stories of their memories of their loved ones, and in arguably the most moving part of the service, lit candles for each of the people we had lost while reading their names out loud. To conclude, staff provided words of encouragement and advice for patients on continuing to adhere to treatment and find support in each other.
Efforts such as these are part of a more comprehensive psychosocial support plan for Zanmi Lasante staff, patients, and their families as we work together to address the psychological impact that the earthquake has had on everyone in Haiti.
Cate OswaldFor our patients receiving treatment for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) at one of two treatment centers in the Central Plateau, this was not an option. Their illness requires a two-year treatment regimen, the first of which is administered as an inpatient. For them, leaving in search of their families was out of the question. Without communication capabilities and only listening to radio reports explaining the extent of the destruction, one can only imagine how distressing these first few days were for them.
In the days since, as cell phone service improved and patients were able to reach their families, many learned of the sudden and untimely death of their family and friends. One of our patients, Benjamin, who has been battling tuberculosis off and on for 18 years, learned that he lost 10 family members. Others lost siblings, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, cousins, friends. In their grief, they immediately started asking themselves why were they saved from this tragedy and not others? How would they continue to live? Why did some people have to die in an instant while they have been able to receive life-saving treatment for their deadly illness? Should they abandon treatment and give up on life?
The Zanmi Lasante staff at the Monseigneur Decoste Infectious Disease Pavilion at the St. Therese Hospital in Hinche immediately recognized their patients' anguish and called on the support of Zanmi Lasante's head psychologist and Director of Psychosocial Support Services, Father Eddy Eustache, to help work with their patients.
Drawing on a technique he has used at PIH's Rwanda project working with genocide survivors, Father Eddy led us in a memorial service remembering the lives of all those we had lost in this unthinkable disaster. Patients and staff alike sang songs, read scripture, shared stories of their memories of their loved ones, and in arguably the most moving part of the service, lit candles for each of the people we had lost while reading their names out loud. To conclude, staff provided words of encouragement and advice for patients on continuing to adhere to treatment and find support in each other.
Efforts such as these are part of a more comprehensive psychosocial support plan for Zanmi Lasante staff, patients, and their families as we work together to address the psychological impact that the earthquake has had on everyone in Haiti.
Program Manager for Psychosocial Support and Mental Health, Haiti
Thumbs up to PIH for recognising that small things like organising a memorial service not only help the individuals that directly benefit, but smooth the way towards an eventual reconstruction of Haiti by strengthening the local community, which in the long run is the only "actor" that can guarantee that Haiti not only climbs back from this disaster but uses it as a jumping board for improving society as a whole in a lasting way.
1 comments:
Jeg snakkede med Barun som jo arbejder for Dell. Han sagde at 99% af NGO's ikke er noget vaerd og at selv de sidste 1% lever fra haanden i munden og paa den maade ikke er saerligt effektive. Han mener at den slags organisationer som han, der har pengene og laver loesninger som skal kunne tjene deres egne penge er det omraade man skal vaere i hvis man ikke arbejder direkte for FN/EU etc.
Knus
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