http://www.medair.org/ Latest News from Medair. Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation en http://www.medair.org/fileadmin/medairorg/images/medair_logo.png http://www.medair.org/ 175 169 Latest News from Medair. Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation TYPO3 - get.content.right http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Thu, 10 May 2012 15:10:00 +0200 http://www.medair.org/nc/en/infochanel/news/detail/article/the_heart_of_what_we_do/ One of the main ways we provide relief in Somaliland’s camps is through promoting the importance of good health and hygiene behaviour. Like most people who live in Burao’s displacement camps, Safiya Ibrahim Gurxan confronts the prospect of disease and malnutrition on almost a daily basis. The cramped, chaotic conditions make these camps a breeding ground for illness and poor health.

Safiya and her family moved to Muruqmaal camp after their herd of goats and sheep was claimed by the drought. She remains hopeful that she and her family will one day earn a good living on their own again. Until then, she welcomes the assistance that Medair provides in Muruqmaal and in 21 other camps here.

“Medair’s hygiene volunteers visited us and gave us hygiene messages three times,” she said. “We’ve learned a lot of new things from them, like burning our rubbish, boiling water before we drink it, and how to clean our latrine and keep our houses clean.”

Our health and hygiene teams encourage camp residents to adopt healthier practices in order to help alleviate the struggles they face on a daily basis. We also distribute ceramic water filters, jerry cans, soap, and cleaning equipment to give residents the tools they need to make the camps cleaner and more hygienic.

Hygiene Promotion
Repeating simple messages is proving an effective line of action, as Medair-trained WASH volunteer Farah Jama Awl can attest. She has witnessed firsthand the improvements that come from communicating the simple yet key messages of ‘wash your hands,’ ‘drink clean water,’ and ‘use the latrine.’

“Since I’ve been doing it, I’ve seen a big change,” said Farah. “When I first came with these messages, people were saying to me every day: ‘What are you saying? Why are you saying it? Who told you this?’ But in the past six months, they have been taking the messages and applying them. Before, maybe 30 percent took the message, but now I think it’s 100 percent.”

“Giving people information is at the heart of what we do,” said Dr. Adele Cowper, Medair Health Project Manager. “People do not necessarily know that washing their hands can prevent diarrhoea.”

Twelve-year-old Farax Hassan Adan, an Ethiopian refugee from a family of eight children, has been very receptive to the hygiene messages. “My siblings received hygiene education and my sister passed it on to me, telling me to use the latrine and wash my hands,” she said. “I also learned to clean the latrine and wash my hands with soap. We have no soap at home at the moment, so this [soap] distribution is helpful for us.”

Knowing that it is healthier to use a latrine is only helpful if there are latrines available to use. In the past year alone, we have built more than 400 latrines in the camps and seen sanitation improve dramatically. Medair’s Daniel Ndege, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Project Manager, notes the latrines have made a swift impact.  

“It is very encouraging to see how people have adapted to using latrines,” said Daniel. “In the camps we surveyed, we found that 86 percent of the population were regularly using a clean and working latrine.”

Health Promotion
Even as hygiene improves, the crowded conditions of these camps remains a major contributor to the transmission of measles and tuberculosis (T.B.), according to Adele.

“The other big problem is that the communities may not know what health services they can access−or if they are minority groups or refugees, they might feel that they are not welcome to use the same services local people do,” said Adele.

One of the most pressing concerns is the prevalence of malnutrition and the levels of preventable disease that occur as a result. Incidences of diarrhoea, respiratory infections, and measles are all linked to malnutrition, and together they contribute to being the main cause of illness and death among children in the camps.

In response, Medair runs a comprehensive nutrition programme for children under five years of age, as well as free vaccination services to combat measles and T.B.

Medair also runs health promotion demonstrations in the camps, teaching women especially about the nutritional value of breastfeeding, about immunisation, and about going to a maternal and child health clinic when they are in labour.

“Today, nearly all the women in Koosaar camp understand how important these sorts of practices are,” said Asha Mohamed Yusuf, Maternal Health Volunteer. “Before, things were not like this, but people are better educated now.”

“I have learned a lot of things about health here in the camp,” said Honi Ahmed, a mother of 10. “Immunisations protect children against diseases and ensure they stay healthy. I advise all my friends to have their children immunised, but people here are quite sensitive about this. You have to give them some encouragement.”
 
Camp to camp, day after day, Medair is proving that the lasting effects of better health and hygiene can make a difference, even in the most desperate of circumstances. It’s a message that must be carried forward, and openly shared and acted upon, from volunteer to camp dweller, from family to friend, from generation to generation.

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This web feature was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.]]> Somalia Feature News RSSFeed Mon, 07 May 2012 14:22:00 +0200 http://www.medair.org/nc/en/infochanel/news/detail/article/swiss_based_medair_ceo_jim_ingram_travels_to_south_sudan/ Raises Awareness of the Desperate Plight of the South Sudanese People On 9 July, South Sudan will celebrate its first anniversary.  While it’s the newest country of the world, South Sudan is facing the oldest problems of the world: food shortages, displacement, lack of access to basic services, and insecurity.

Jim Ingram, CEO of Swiss-based Medair, an international humanitarian aid organisation, is currently on a two-week field visit in South Sudan. Besides meeting with his team of 90 staff, Ingram’s trip is also to raise awareness of the grim daily living conditions of the South Sudanese, and highlight the need for more help. The visit enables him to have a first-hand view of how his team is working to preserve the lives of the South Sudanese people through the programmes they administrate. Medair’s health, nutrition, WASH, distribution of non-food items, and shelter programmes benefitted more than 232,000 people in 2011 alone in South Sudan.  

Aimed at not only providing immediate care and access, these long-running initiatives also focus on educating and supporting communities so they become more self sufficient while maintaining a sense of dignity.  Ingram is travelling to Juba, the capital city, as well as Awerial, Jiech, and Renk—towns located in three different South Sudanese states.  

Medair’s work in South Sudan has a strong focus on emergency relief.  For example, earlier this year Medair’s emergency response teams provided access to primary health care, clean water, latrines, and hygiene promotion to more than 20,000 people in the areas of Mina and Abayok in Renk town in Upper Nile State.

“South Sudan is a country of epic problems and grim statistics,” Ingram said. “Medair is committed to helping relieve the suffering here in South Sudan—and in other parts of Africa, Asia, or other areas with extraordinary need.”  
One out of every 10 children in South Sudan dies before his or her fifth birthday. Almost         two-thirds of the people do not have access to latrines, according to a 2010 Southern Sudan Household Survey.

“Swiss efficiency is paramount to running an effective global humanitarian aid organisation,” Ingram said.  “The Medair team is known for its professionalism in assessing the humanitarian needs in an emergency, and responding to the unique needs of the situation in the areas of medical attention, shelter, or access to safe water and sanitation. Just as we have done here in South Sudan, Medair then stays after the initial crisis to help restore essential services and build local capacity to respond to future crises. We feel it is important to focus on sustainable solutions.”

Medair came to Sudan in 1991 to provide emergency relief and rehabilitation services to people who were affected by the world’s longest running civil war. Twenty-two years later, the organisation is still operating in what is now known as South Sudan.
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High-quality photographs, human interest stories, and interviews with field staff are available to interested media. Photos South Sudan

For more information, or to schedule an interview with Jim Ingram, please contact:    

Medair Headquarters (Switzerland)
Janneke de Kruijf – Media Officer
E-mail: janneke.dekruijf@medair.org
Tel. +41.78.6353095

Medair, a Swiss-based humanitarian relief agency with affiliate offices in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA, works to relieve human suffering.  Medair currently provides assistance to more than two million vulnerable women, children, and men in crisis who live in often difficult-to-reach regions in Africa, Asia, and other areas of extraordinary need including Afghanistan, Somalia/Somaliland, Haiti, and D.R. Congo.

The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.]]> Short News Pressreleases Ecublens RSSFeed Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:26:00 +0200 http://www.medair.org/nc/en/infochanel/news/detail/article/building_bridges/ Medair opens a vital humanitarian corridor from the city of Isiro to isolated Ango territory where tens of thousands of people need aid. Just over a year ago, vulnerable families who lived in Ango territory received almost no assistance from the international humanitarian community. Not because they didn’t need help, but because Ango was so difficult to reach.

In 2009, violent regional attacks forced 25,000 people to flee their homes and take refuge in Ango territory, where 30,000 residents already struggled with poverty. When Medair flew an assessment team to Ango town in late 2010, we found that people there faced immense and often life-threatening needs, including a lack of health care, safe drinking water, and food.

Ango territory is very isolated due in part to its distance from other centres of population and the poor condition of roads and bridges leading to it. “The main problem is that, of the 25 bridges on this road, 15 are damaged,” said Mark Wooding, Medair Reconstruction Advisor. “So even if the roads were improved, you could only cross the rivers with great difficulty because of the sub-standard bridges.”

“Humanitarians are unable to reach isolated areas like Ango,” said Jean Kugaya, a Congolese engineer working for Medair. “Some new trucks coming from Isiro have been stuck at the bridge in Dingila and have never gotten to their destination because of the bridge.”

With thousands of families cut off from potentially life-saving aid, Medair—with support from the Pooled Fund (a multi-donor trust fund for D.R. Congo) and private donors—launched a project to build or rehabilitate the 15 bridges needed to open a humanitarian corridor to Ango.

“You cannot begin to imagine the impact these bridges will have on our lives,” said Bernard Poly Monomo, a 26-year-old man from Nagbongbo village whom Medair hired to assist with the bridge reconstruction. “Trucks transporting food from Isiro take so long to get here, sometimes getting stuck for weeks, but once the bridges are done, food will get here much more quickly.”

In order to provide access to humanitarian actors, the bridges needed to be strong enough to hold 25-tonne trucks like the ones driven by the World Food Programme (WFP).

“One of the challenges was to reconstruct three metal bridges whose wooden beams and metal pieces were falling apart because they had not been maintained since colonial times,” said Thomas Simon, Medair Rehabilitation Project Manager. “The objective was to replace the planks and missing metal parts so that trucks and commercial transporters could pass through again.”
 
“The wooden planking is very dangerous,” echoed Mark. “Most heavy trucks cannot cross the bridges without getting stuck.”

Age, lack of maintenance, and environmental factors like soil erosion had left some bridges in such a state of disrepair that water was flowing over them instead of under them. “We had looked for means to repair the bridges ourselves,” said Bernard Poly. “We tried to build makeshift ones with branches but they were not stable enough to hold the weight of the vehicles passing through... We thought we had been forgotten, but then Medair arrived and has started to repair them.”

Over the course of the past year, Medair worked closely with local communities between Isiro and Ango to build and/or repair all 15 bridges. We used international and national engineers to oversee the work including volunteer Simon Bird, a British engineer who helped ensure the bridges would perform as required despite the challenging environment. We hired approximately 1,800 local labourers to do the work, bringing an influx of cash into the local economy where jobs are woefully scarce. “I had been looking for work for a long time,” said Bernard Poly. “I am not a mason by profession but they have trained me to weld and curve metal. I am happy to have gained a new skill.”

Our team held meetings with community groups and local authorities to ensure that the work was a productive partnership, one where participating communities felt a sense of ownership in the resulting bridges. “By allowing people to work on the bridge, the project improves the lives of people with no economic means, like those who are displaced and single parents,” said 61-year-old Sarafine Nodele Ndele, a community leader in Poko territory. “It will help them pay school fees and even buy clothes for their children.”  

Indeed, the bridge-building project provided families with a lot of secondary benefits in addition to the crucial purpose of opening up access for humanitarian aid to Ango. All along the road, local residents received temporary employment and many gained valuable new skills. Labourers received health information about HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases, and sleeping sickness—sometimes for the first time. Furthermore, now that the road can be travelled again, the price of commodities from towns like Isiro will be lower because trucks have much easier access.

“We are also hoping that the bridges will indirectly boost agricultural activities by opening up transportation and, in a wider sense, increasing the economic status of the people,” said Jean Kugaya.  

Rehabilitating the bridges has already led to increased humanitarian aid for the people living here. “The bridge rehabilitation project has facilitated better movement of WFP trucks transporting food rations to populations in the Uélé areas,” said Laurent Frimault, WFP Logistics Cluster Officer.

“When my sisters and my relatives saw the progress on the bridges, the look of happiness on their faces gave me so much joy,” said Bernard Poly. “Because we are very isolated, we lack a lot of essential services here. We even nicknamed our Territory le Zaire, because we are reminded of the suffering we endured during the Mobutu regime. But now we are slowly beginning to feel like the D.R. Congo again. This fills me with joy.”
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Hope in the Darkness
Want to know what it’s like to live as a displaced person? Philemon Foolani gives the straight goods about his life as a displaced person in Ango. Read More.
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In addition to Medair’s bridge project, Medair opened a base in Ango in 2011 where we are providing health care and we have improved community access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) for the local population.

Medair’s projects in Ango territory are supported with funding from the Multi-Donor Pooled Fund, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and by private donations.

Read more about Medair’s work in D.R. Congo.

This web feature was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.]]> D.R. Congo Feature News RSSFeed Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:29:00 +0200 http://www.medair.org/nc/en/infochanel/news/detail/article/emergencies_taking_a_deadly_toll_in_badakhshan/ Afghanistan’s harshest winter in 15 years leaves families struggling to survive.
While relief efforts continue to assist avalanche survivors, snowbound villages throughout the province also desperately need health care and nutrition as their food supplies run low and as increased cases of pneumonia and other illnesses ravage the population.  

In Darang, a village of 400 families situated near the Tajikistan border, 29 children under the age of five have reportedly died in the past month. Medair staff travelled three hours by horseback to reach Darang and found children suffering from acute malnutrition, pneumonia, and other health complications.

Families are running dangerously low on food. In 2011, severe drought led to a poor harvest in the region and with the heavy snowfall and the avalanches this winter, many people have been unable to reach markets or health care facilities.

Darang’s residents have also run out of fodder to feed their livestock, leaving their animals too emaciated to be eaten or sold. Furthermore, Darang, like many other villages in Badakhshan, will soon be at serious risk of landslides and flooding when the heavy snow melts in the spring thaw.

“These recent avalanches have highlighted just how vulnerable village families in Badakhshan are,” said Claire Skinner, Medair Country Director for Afghanistan. “Far too many children are malnourished and families are living on the brink of survival. This harsh winter has pushed many of them beyond their means to cope.”

Since 2010, Medair has run a nutrition programme in parts of Badakhshan that have emergency levels of acute malnutrition, and we intend to extend our activities to reach Darang and numerous other remote villages in 2012. “Treating malnourished women and children is our top priority,” said Claire. “That’s why we are setting up mobile teams who can travel by horse to villages that are too far away to receive help from the existing health centres.”

Providing fodder for livestock is also of high importance. “These animals are the people’s livelihood,” explained Claire. “Families can sell a sheep or a goat and buy a month’s worth of food. If they lose their livestock they won’t be able to buy food to last them to the next harvest.”

Medair is one of the few international humanitarian organisations working in Badakhshan. As a result, we have been involved in coordinating relief efforts in the province. We have prepositioned emergency supplies in the provincial centre and have a team in place to respond to the floods and landslides that are expected to strike village communities in the coming spring months.

While these measures will help survivors of natural disaster deal with their immediate needs, Medair is also calling on the international community to support long-term relief efforts for families in Badakhshan, the country’s most food-insecure province.
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Medair’s work in Afghanistan is supported by E.C. Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, Swiss Solidarity, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, the World Food Programme, UNICEF, and private donations.  

Read more about Medair’s work in Afghanistan.

This web update was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.
]]> Afghanistan Short News RSSFeed Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:49:00 +0100 http://www.medair.org/nc/en/infochanel/news/detail/article/malnourished_children_recovering_well_at_somaliland_stabilisation_centre/ A Medair-supported health facility saves the lives of young children on the brink of death.
But consecutive years of drought changed everything. “Before we had 80 sheep and five camels,” she says. “Now we only have 10 sheep left.”

In Somaliland, owning livestock such as camels, goats, and sheep provides families with economic security.  A Somali proverb says, “He who does not own a camel lives under the protection of others.” But drought has decimated the animal population, especially in eastern Somaliland, leaving families with very limited sources of food or ways to earn an income.  “The situation now is very different from before,” says Kaltuun. “Most people have lost their animals and... life is very difficult.”

Last month, Kaltuun’s youngest child, Hibo, fell ill. “We hoped she would get better, but she got worse and worse,” says Kaltuun.

At the nearest health facility in the Sool Region where she lives , they were told that, in her condition, Hibo would need to be treated at the Stabilisation Centre in Burao city. “By the time we got to Burao, my daughter was so weak she could not cry,” says Kaltuun. “I thought she would die.”

At the Medair-supported Stabilisation Centre in the Burao hospital, children under five are admitted if they suffer from severe malnutrition and if they have additional complications such as diarrhoea, vomiting, or a respiratory infection.

Since Februrary 2011, Medair has been providing comprehensive support to the Stabilisation Centre. We train and supervise staff on managing children with severe acute malnutrition. In collaboration with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health, we provide health staff with the equipment and medicine they need to treat children under five who are affected by severe malnutrition. This project is supported by the Directorate-General  for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection of the European Commission, the Department for International Development (U.K.), UNICEF, and private donations.

In the past few years, hundreds of sick children from all around Burao have been referred to the Stabilisation Centre. Now, with our programme expanding into new regions of Somaliland, the centre is seeing more children arriving from farther away.

“With the drought over the past year, we have seen very many sick children here,” says Sayneb Husein, the senior nurse working at the centre. "They always have severe malnutrition and additional complications—respiratory problems are common, also gastroenteritis, which leads to diarrhoea and vomiting.”

When Kaltuun arrived with her sick child, health staff diagnosed the baby girl with severe malnutrition and diarrhoea. They put Hibo on the centre’s standard treatment: a course of  antibiotics, vitamin A, de-worming medicine, measles vaccine, and therapeutic milk to help her gain weight.

In 2011, more than 80 percent of the children admitted to the centre recovered. “It is amazing to see life returning to a child,” says Sayneb. “When they come in they are weak but by the time they leave, they are moving around and making a lot of noise.”

When children are discharged, they are monitored by a community nutrition programme to ensure the families remain well supported and the children continue to gain weight.

“The smallest child I have ever seen at the centre was only a week old and weighed less than 1.8 kilograms [four pounds],” says Sayneb. “When I first saw him, I was shocked. He was so small and looked so fragile. But he got better. When I saw him gradually gaining weight, growing bigger and stronger, I was very encouraged.”

Staff at the centre spend time educating mothers about healthy feeding practices. “A lot of women bring baby bottles when they come here,” says Sayneb. “But we advise them that breastfeeding is the healthiest way.”

After just five days of treatment, baby Hibo had gained weight and begun to show encouraging signs of recovery. “The nurses here are very skilled and they are really helping my daughter,” says Kaltuun.

When Hibo’s treatment began, she was unable to make a noise even when she was being injected. “Now, when she gets an injection, she cries out,” says Kaltuun. “She is also moving around and playing a lot more. I am surprised that my daughter has got well so quickly. Soon I hope to take her home.”

Days earlier, a fearful Kaltuun had believed that Hibo was going to die. Today she speaks excitedly about what it will be like to watch her daughter grow up. “I want to teach her and send her to school, perhaps abroad, to get a good education. My dream is for her to become a teacher.”

“The Stabilisation Centre is an amazing place—you see wonders every week,” says nurse Sayneb. “Although things are very difficult in Somaliland at the moment, I am sure that the situation in Burao will get better because of the help we are receiving from Medair. The staff get good training here and I feel proud to be helping save children’s lives.”

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Medair’s work in Somaliland is supported by Swiss Solidarity, the E.C. Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection,  Word and Deed, Help a Child,  EO-Metterdaad, the Department for International Development  (U.K.), UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and private donations from Medair supporters.

Millions are facing severe food shortages in the Horn of Africa following years of drought. Medair is responding to the emergency in Somaliland, adding to the programmes we have been running since 2008 to offer additional life-saving health, nutrition, and WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) services. In September 2011, we began an emergency response in the eastern Sool and Sanaag regions.  Read more about Medair’s work in Somalia/Somaliland.

Somaliland declared itself independent from Somalia in 1991. Its independence has not been recognised by the international community.

This web update was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.
]]> Somalia Short News RSSFeed Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:54:00 +0100 http://www.medair.org/nc/en/infochanel/news/detail/article/helping_women_and_families_heal_from_sexual_violence/ On International Women’s Day, read about Medair’s efforts to support and uplift traumatised women in D.R. Congo. [1], her voice trembling. “I had a strange feeling that I was being followed. Soon after, a man appeared in front of me with a big knife the size of my arm.”  

Every day, the threat of sexual violence blights the lives of innocent women in eastern D.R. Congo. The prevalence and intensity of rape and sexual violence in this region has been described as the worst in the world [2].

Brutal sexual violence is regularly used as a weapon of war by armed militia to intimidate, humiliate, and torture women and girls in Haut and Bas Uélé districts. But women also risk being raped by members of their community−sometimes by people they know−as they go about their daily lives, gathering firewood, water, or working in the fields.
 
“The sexual violence phenomenon is baffling to us,” says Mbizole Anita Thaddee, a nurse attendant at the Medair-supported clinic at Ndedu, 45 kilometres from Dungu town. “It never used to be like this before. There have been more and more cases, including attacks on children.”

Along with devastating psychological trauma, survivors of sexual violence often experience high rates of sexually transmitted infections, HIV transmission, unwanted pregnancy, and fistulas which, if left untreated, can impair reproductive health.

Treating the Wounds of Body and Soul
Medair sees a real need to support individuals and communities who are dealing with the physical and psychological effects of sexual violence.  In May 2011, we began a project that provides free medical treatment for victims of sexual violence while also educating communities about the importance of seeking treatment as quickly as possible after an attack. This project is supported by the E.C. Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection and private donors.

As part of the project, Medair has helped develop and train a network of 387  local volunteers—including 40  community health workers—to counsel survivors of sexual violence. “These are people are well-known in the community and can be trusted to respect the dignity of the survivors,” says Dr. Olivier Ng’adjole, Medair project manager.

We have provided the network with training on how to talk to the survivors, to guide them through their ordeal, and help them re-integrate back into society. “I attended Medair’s psychosocial training because I saw that there was an opportunity to help these survivors,” says nurse attendant Mbizole. “I had witnessed women from the community who had been treated at the clinic after being raped. No one counselled them and they were never the same. They looked sad, reserved, and dislocated from society. I realised we had to do something, and I am happy Medair is ready to help.”

Overcoming Stigma
After Marie was sexually assaulted at knifepoint, she was left bruised, bleeding, and traumatised. “I was in anguish. I did not want to go home because I did not know what my husband would think,” she said.

A woman she met on the road carried her to the clinic in Ndedu, where her wounds were treated and she received essential medical treatment. Nurse Mbizole was at the clinic and he provided counselling to Marie and then accompanied her home to explain the incident to her husband.  

“Marie was completely traumatised and demoralised when she was brought here,” said Mbizole. “But I can see her getting back to her normal self again. I have been counselling her and her husband. He has also been affected. He is sad and unusually quiet.”

Even though sexual violence is so prevalent in D.R. Congo, survivors are often shunned by their families and communities. In extreme cases they become complete outcasts.

“The problem,” says Mbizole, “is a lack of awareness. “People are not aware that they can get help. Some do, but fear what society will think of them once their story comes out in the open. So they choose to live in seclusion, traumatised by what has happened to them.”

Helping to Bring Change
As the scourge of sexual violence continues in D.R. Congo, we are continuing to work alongside the affected community to help ease and heal survivors’ physical and psychological suffering.

“Before Medair’s intervention, the clinic received survivors of sexual violence but we would not discuss what happened to them,” says Nurse Mbizole. “As a result, most of these women returned home as traumatised as they were when they came to the clinic.

“This will change,” he concludes. “We have been trained to counsel survivors to help them through the trauma of what they have been through. This assistance will be of great help to the population.”

[1] Not her real name
[2]  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/08/AR2007090801194.html
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From June 2011 through January 2012, Medair treated 248 survivors of sexual violence. More than half of them arrived at a Medair-supported clinic within the recommended 72-hour timeframe.
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Medair’s support for survivors of sexual violence in D.R. Congo is financed by the E.C. Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection and private donors.

Read more about Medair’s work in D.R. Congo.

This web update was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.
]]> D.R. Congo Short News RSSFeed Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:54:00 +0100 http://www.medair.org/nc/en/infochanel/news/detail/article/responding_to_the_devastation_of_cyclone_giovanna/ Medair’s rapid emergency assessment and intervention has improved access to safe drinking water for 5,000 families in the most affected areas on the east coast.
“We had just enough time to take a few belongings and seek refuge,” said 28-year-old Irene. “When the cyclone had passed all our homes were destroyed.”

“The situation is catastrophic,” said Medair’s Claudel Mbotivelo. “When we arrived two days after the cyclone, many houses had collapsed and telephone lines and electrical power had been cut off by trees that had fallen.”

Water Woes
On the east coast, many people already lived a simple life and were vulnerable before the disaster. Before Giovanna, people in the Brickaville district south of Toamasina were suffering the effects of drought. Some wells and rivers had run dry. Residents of Ambohimiarina, for example, walked more than an hour round-trip to collect water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning.

Now, with fallen trees in the road, holes to avoid, and new detours needed since the cyclone, it’s even more difficult for people to meet their basic needs. “These conditions weaken the local population and make them even more vulnerable to disease,” said Aurélie Grisel, Medair Field Communications Officer. “The rivers are infected with Schistosomiasis and cause serious diseases that sometimes cause death, in particular among children.”

Although most residents had received forewarning of the impending natural disaster thanks to good regional communications, the cyclone left many villages in a state of devastation with water points contaminated and water unsafe to drink.

“Before the cyclone, we suffered from the drought already, but with the hurricane, it's even worse. We no longer have enough drinking water,” said Maka Valérien, leader of Ambodivoananto village. “We need help with this emergency, but we also need it done in a sustainable way, because life here is hard.”

Meeting the Needs of the Most Vulnerable
After a rapid assessment of the region—working in close association with local authorities and other NGOs—Medair sent a response team to the Vatomandry region.

Our team is now working to improve access to safe drinking water for people in the Vatomandry area. Our work includes:

• Distributing 5,000 WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) kits to affected families. WASH kits contain buckets, a chlorine solution to treat the water, cups, and soap.

• Disinfecting wells

• Providing group education on hygiene

• Repairing a gravitational water system, including raised water points

• Repairing rainwater harvesting and water distribution systems in three schools

• Continuing to assess villages and hamlets farther inland to organise emergency response if necessary.

In addition, we are currently looking into running a project that will provide a cash distribution to local residents to enable them to provide for their most urgent needs, including rebuilding their homes.

“The challenge with this emergency is that access to clean water and sanitation was extremely low before the cyclone,” said Yves-Pascal Suter, Medair Country Director. “We are now investing a lot of energy into restoring what has been broken and also in bringing immediate help that will have a lasting impact in the region, reducing the vulnerability of these communities to future cyclones and floods.”

Medair is now seeking funding for a full supply of WASH kits so that they will be on hand and ready for distribution when the next cyclone strikes the island. Please give a small gift to Medair today.
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While Medair maintains a readiness to respond to cyclones like Giovanna, emergency responses are only part of our work in Madagascar. For most of the year, Medair’s efforts are focused on partnering with communities and helping them become better prepared to face future cyclones.

Medair’s work in Madagascar is supported by the E.C. Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection and private donations.

Read more about Medair’s work in Madagascar.

This web update was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.    ]]> Madagascar Short News RSSFeed Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:49:00 +0100 http://www.medair.org/nc/en/infochanel/news/detail/article/the_song_of_saiid/ Meet a camel herder in dry Somaliland who has an unusual way of encouraging his animals to drink.
Indeed, upon arriving in Wadamago, visitors notice the thickets of large trees that surround the village, an indication that there is ready access to water here.  Many of the trees sprout huge clumps of aerial roots, a distinctive feature.

“I have come a long way to be here,” says 40-year-old Saiid. “I have driven my camels from Kalacheex. We walked for three hours to be here so these camels could drink.”
Saiid is considered a prosperous herder with a large family and sizable herd of camels, sheep, and goats. But he explains that the drought has taken a devastating toll on his herd.

“Before the drought, I had 260 goats and sheep, but the drought took many of them,” he says. “I have 80 camels and about 60 goats and sheep left.”

Still, Saiid is fortunate to have livestock that have survived at all. Many families have lost everything in the drought.  To keep his herds alive, Saiid will drive them for long distances to find water, as he has done today in Wadamago.

Song of Saiid
As Saiid brings his train of camels to the well, he undertakes a unique ritual. He begins to sing to them. He sings loudly, praising their many good qualities. And as he sings, the camels lower their heads and drink.

Remarkably, when Saiid stops singing, the camels stop drinking. And when he takes up the song again, they immediately begin to drink, as if upon command. It is a sight to behold.
 
Not long ago, many of these wells were in complete disrepair. Wadamago is home to 500 families plus a surging number of internally displaced people (IDPs), all of whom use the wells along with the herders like Saiid who travel here to water their animals.  

Thousands of people need these wells to survive, but when Medair came to Wadamago, we found that the wells lacked covers, their sides had collapsed, and they were often polluted with refuse.

In response, we rehabilitated five of the shallow wells. We repaired the walls and fitted them with concrete caps and steel covers to keep out contaminants. We also set up concrete bars at the top which make it easier to draw buckets out.

People here have been impressed with the results, commenting that these restored wells are now the best in the village. “These new wells are better both for safety and for the quality of the water,” says 55-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim Aboken, son of the village chief.

Spirit of Perseverance
When Saiid ends his song, he prepares his freshly watered herd for the long walk home.
“Only Allah knows how long it will take for us to rebuild our herds,” he says. “But, with my knowledge of animals, I would predict that even if good rains fall and the grass grows, it will still take at least five years for the sheep and goats to recover.”

As a Somali proverb says, “He who does not own a camel lives under the protection of others.” For families who have lost all their livestock, this means they have lost their income and their main source of food. Those families face a tough road in the lean years to come. They will need our support. Providing water supplies that will keep livestock alive, even during drought, is crucial to preventing future food crises in the region.

Saiid’s willingness to look ahead helps him to endure the inherent hardships of day-to-day life here. He is a testament to the indomitable spirit of perseverance in these remote communities, reminding us why our work is so important and why we need to keep bringing relief wherever we can.

Your donation to Medair goes a long way.
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In the heart of Somaliland, the effort to find viable sources of clean drinking water is an ongoing struggle made all the more challenging by the drought that has overwhelmed this land.

Where the water table is high enough, Medair is rehabilitating shallow wells—an inexpensive and effective way of improving access to water. In addition to shallow wells, Medair is rehabilitating berkads—reservoirs that store rainwater. Rehabilitating a berkad provides a low-cost, high-impact intervention that gives a sustainable source of water to approximately 300 people and their animals for the next 20 years.

Discover how a functioning berkad can transform a village.

Read more about Medair’s work in Somalia/Somaliland.

This web feature was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.
]]> Somalia Feature News RSSFeed Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:16:00 +0100 http://www.medair.org/nc/en/infochanel/news/detail/article/fighting_maternal_mortality_in_the_remote_ango_region_of_dr_congo/ Medair trains local health practitioners in obstetric and maternal care to reduce the risk of complications during childbirth.
She laughs as she reminisces how much her work has changed over the years. “Of course there were no clinics in those days,” says Marie. “When women went into labour, they called me to their homes where I would deliver the babies.”

There were no delivery materials either, not even razor blades. “To cut the umbilical cord, we made strings out of the bark of palm trees,” says Marie. “As you can imagine, it was not easy.”

Marie works in Ango territory, a remote area in eastern D.R. Congo which suffers from chronic underdevelopment and poor road networks. Regular attacks from Lord’s Resistance Army rebels have led to the displacement of 300,000 people from their homes, 28,000 of whom are in Ango territory. The health system has suffered as well. Access to essential medicines and materials is difficult and qualified personnel have fled from some of the clinics.

Six years ago, when the Dafia clinic in Ango territory opened its doors, the staff asked Marie to join the team as an assistant midwife. Each month, she delivers between 10 and 15 babies. “People keep coming back because they have faith in me,” says Marie. “I make them feel comfortable and they know that they can trust me.”

“We offered Marie the job at the clinic to reduce the risks of complications that are common during home deliveries and to help prevent deadly infections in newborns,” says Christian Kilibinge, head nurse at the clinic. “We want to encourage as many women as possible to give birth at the clinic where it’s safe.”

Since Medair started working in the Ango region in January 2011, we have provided obstetric and maternal health care training to more than 50 health practitioners such as Marie, including nurses and midwives, with the aim of reducing deaths of mothers and newborns during deliveries. We are also providing training on the prevention and treatment of childhood illnesses, malaria, and the proper management of medicine. This project is supported by The United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Complications during and after delivery are the leading cause of maternal deaths in developing countries,” says Ellen Stamhuis, Medair’s Health Project Manager in Ango. “That is why we insist that midwives and nurses get the proper training to identify risk factors early enough. We have observed a significant improvement in the quality of deliveries done by health practitioners who have attended the training.”

Marie benefited greatly from the training. “Now I know how to look for positive signs that determine whether the delivery will go well or signs of trouble that indicate that the patient will need special care,” she says, pointing to the partogram, a chart she has been trained to use to determine the progress of delivery and to detect complications.

“There is still a lot to be done, but clinic deliveries that are done according to good standards will essentially help to reduce maternal mortality among women,” concludes Ellen.
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Medair’s  programme in Ango is supported by the United States Agency for International Development, the Pooled Fund, and private donors.

Read more about Medair's activities in D.R. Congo.

This web update was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.
]]> D.R. Congo Short News RSSFeed Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:18:00 +0100 http://www.medair.org/nc/en/infochanel/news/detail/article/south_sudan_emergency_response_underway_for_thousands_displaced_by_conflict_in_jonglei/ As displaced people continue to arrive in Pibor town and the surrounding area, Medair is providing them with emergency health and nutrition services, along with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Violent attacks that began on 31 December 2011 have left more than 140,000 people in need of aid in Jonglei State [1]. More than 44,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have sought refuge in and around Pibor town, doubling the size of the town. Families are sleeping under trees or taking shelter with people they know in town. Some stay in public areas such as a school that was initially housing more than 1,000 people.

“Pibor town is full to the brim, but still IDPs are seen coming,” says Alex Wafula, Medair WASH Technician.

During the attacks, Pibor town sustained some damage while nearby Likuangole and other villages were burned to the ground, sending residents fleeing to Pibor town.  “Now things are quiet, but people are still scared to go home,” says Trina Helderman, Medair Emergency Response Team (ERT) Health Project Manager.

When a Medair ERT arrived in Pibor on 7 January, they discovered that several boreholes were broken and required urgent repairs, particularly at the school. With more and more people congregating in the town, Pibor also needed more latrines to avoid the risk of disease among concentrated groups of displaced persons.

Working in partnership with the NGO Solidarites International, our WASH team swiftly rehabilitated eight hand pumps in Pibor town to improve water supply and constructed 11 emergency latrines, including eight at the primary school where so many people were living. We also provided seven hand-washing facilities to improve hygiene and sanitation.

“I have the peace of God in my heart because at least now there are fewer people queuing for water here in Pibor,” says Alex.

The bad smell because of open defecation has also reduced drastically as people are now using the latrines.

Shortly after the WASH team’s arrival, Medair’s health and nutrition team arrived in Pibor and started a supplementary feeding programme for children under three years old to help stave off malnutrition, providing food to more than 1,400 young children so far.

Our team also screened more than 2,100 displaced children under five for malnutrition and found 406 with moderate acute malnutrition and 55 with severe acute malnutrition. Those children are now being treated at either the government clinic that Medair is supporting or at the Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) clinic in town.  All of the screened children also received Vitamin A and deworming medicine from Medair.

With the town becoming increasingly crowded, disease outbreak is a serious concern. As such, we are conducting refresher training for health providers at the government’s primary health care unit in Pibor to ensure proper care of the most common illnesses and to prepare for a quick response in the event of an outbreak.

Our teams have focused relief efforts on Pibor town, but have also conducted outreaches to the IDP populations staying in the surrounding bush. In addition, we assessed significant damage in Likuangole and rehabilitated four of the boreholes there. Insecurity makes it difficult to work outside of Pibor town, but we are continuing to look at opportunities to work in Likuangole and other affected communities nearby.

Before the end of the civil war, back in 2003, Medair worked at the Likuangole clinic until we were forced to relocate our teams. “Eight years later, the people still remember us,” says Trina. “As we walk around Pibor, people come up to us and thank us for coming back. They thank us for the work we did before.”

As Medair teams help thousands of people pick up the pieces from the latest series of attacks, those encouraging words remind us that, even in the face of adversity, our work makes a lasting impact on the lives of those around us.

Medair serves displaced persons in Jonglei state with ongoing WASH, health, and nutrition activities. Your donations help make our emergency interventions possible. Thank you.

[1] UN-OCHA Weekly Humanitarian Bulletin – 2 February 2012
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Our teams are supported by the  E.C. Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, the Common Humanitarian Fund for Sudan, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, "The Big Give," and private donations. Our ERTs have the capacity to respond to emergencies in all 10 states of South Sudan.

Read more about Medair’s work in South Sudan.

This web update was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.

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