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MDGs -
EPISODE 4
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MDGs -
EPISODE 4
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Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
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Each year, millions of children die
due to lack of hygiene and exclusion from health services.
The number of children dying in the
poorest countries of the world is nearly 50 times higher than those dying in
developed countries. In a world that has so many resources and means, to
allow such massacre to take place is unacceptable.
The MDG 4 aims at lowering child
mortality rates. This means to expand care services and address all child
health determinants.
In the world now, majority of the
children get vaccinated and indeed the child mortality rates are falling but
in sub-Saharan Africa, one in seven children still do not live to see their
fifth birthday.
There are still countries like
Sierra Leone where governments are unable to provide free primary health
services and where the presence of international non-government medical
organisations is indispensable for saving lives. |
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Sierra Leone - Emergency
Surgical Hospital - Goderich |
One in eight women in
Sierra Leone dies in childbirth as opposed to one in four thousand in
developed countries. Infant mortality rates at 140 per 1000 births and
under-five mortality rates at 286 per 1000 are still the highest in the
world. Considering that 49% of the total population of Sierra Leone is
under the age of 18 and that the situation of the 2.3 million children
living in Sierra Leone is still precarious, the national government faces a
major challenge.
A country that once boasted of some
of the best medical and nursing colleges in West Africa, today Sierra
Leone’s public universities and hospitals are underfunded and lack basic
facilities. Out of 13 districts in Sierra Leone, only 7 offer basic health
care. Although staying in public hospitals does not cost, the government
does not have sufficient funds to cover fees for treatments, medicines,
operations and doctors. This means that poor people cannot afford treatments
and other medical services. Sometimes, even minor problems, like fractures,
can degenerate into serious and irreversible deformities.
As part of its efforts to
rebuild its devastated health care system, in 2009, the Sierra Leonean
government introduced free medical healthcare for pregnant women,
breast-feeding mothers, and children under-five years. And in order to
motivate health workers across the country, the government gave a six-fold
increase in their pay packages.
Many international
organisations support the local health care system by establishing clinics,
hospitals, equipping existing public health care centres. Emergency is one
such Italian non-government organisation that, along with other
organisations like Marie Stopes, International Medical Corps, provides free
health care services to the Sierra Leonean people, especially to victims of
war and poverty and cases requiring surgery.
Emergency has been active
in Sierra Leone since 2001 when it built a surgical hospital for war victims
in Goderich, a village in a suburb of Freetown, the country's capital.
Later, it also started admitting orthopaedic patients and surgical
emergencies. In order to respond to the steeply rising infant mortality
rates in the country, Emergency, in 2002, built a Paediatric Outpatient
Department next to the hospital. This department provides treatment for
illnesses like malaria (the leading cause of death of children under age 5),
anaemia, and respiratory infections. Emergency’s paediatric clinic also
organises health and hygiene education programmes as part of its preventive
care measures. Along with an Italian university, Emergency has also
developed a new protein rich food for malnourished children made with
ingredients easily available in Sierra Leone.
With the vaccination
coverage in the country being 76% for measles and 63% for DPT, infant
mortality rates in Sierra Leone have now decreased to 76.6. per 1000 live
births. The political will of the country and the funding contribution from
international agencies like DFID, ADB, World Bank, UNFPA, and UNICEF to the
“Free Health Care” policy of the government have been major determinants of
the success of the policy.
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Spontaneous assistance and Organized
cooperation
India
- NGO - Julian Parr
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1 - Importance of NGOs, their Challenges and Limitations
Do you think we need NGOs to support
development activities around the world?
A robust civil society is hugely important in terms of democratization and
hearing the voice of people. For civil society has a more inclusive
definition which is not just NGOs but also Media. The freedom of press in
India it's is major strength... and if you suppress the freedom of Media
you suppress development.
What are their Challenges?
NGOs are having the define their role in a new world order, especially
international NGOs. What is are role now? We cannot continue to deliver
services, for in doing so they undermine the role of the Government in
doing that. My own sense it that we are now moving more towards advocacy
and policies and that it the role we should be playing... we should be
arguing to governments like India that you should put more than just 1% of
the GDP into health.
What are their Challenges?
Is whether they have an authentic voice. NGOs are very good in claiming to
speak on behalf of people but they are not democratic institutions in
their own right.
I can say that, yes, we have some very robust programs on the ground, but
that is because I am saying it... if I had the same response from
Coca-Cola, BP, Shell or even the government, I will be very sceptical of
those figures and statistics. If we are going to hold other stakeholders
and other sectors into account then we ourselves have to be much more
transparent and honest about our own structure. |
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Syria - Moving Hopes - Damascus
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We meandered along the
roads of Hajar al-Aswad, a poor southern suburb of Damascus, and home to
many refugees, searching for a centre for physically challenged children
established by an Italian non-government organisation called Armadilla.
Hajar al-Aswad is a poor
neighbourhood that became home for Palestinian refugee families and then for
Syrians from the Golan heights seeking refuge following the six-day war with
Israel in 1967. The neighbourhood is also home to Syrian migrants from the
rural areas as well as Kurdish people from the Northern villages of Syria,
Turkmen communities and Iraqi refugees. Earnings from unskilled labour are
the basis of family incomes.
We finally found the
centre for children, established by Armadilla in cooperation with a Syrian
woman’s organisation, called Zahret Al Mada’en where children suffering from
neurological disorders are treated. The initial funds for building this
centre were provided by an Italian Foundation specializing in child
neuropathology,
Today, the centre
provides diagnostic and physiotherapy services for more than 200 children of
Hajar al-Aswad. Volunteers from Italian universities regularly come to this
centre for treating the children and teaching new techniques to the Syrian
physiotherapists. The organisations also organise meetings and events to
raise awareness among the local people on the importance of diagnosing and
treating neurological disorders early in children. The centre has now also
become a space where women meet and discuss issues dear to their hearts,
where they learn new skills and produce handicrafts, embroidered garments to
earn some additional income for the families.
The success achieved by
this small cooperation initiative among two development organisations in
Hajar al-Aswad not only attracted the attention of international donor
agencies but also the support of the Syrian Ministry for Health. A Syrian
doctor from the state health care system regularly visits the centre,
diagnoses and treats children and also trains the local physiotherapy
assistants. And the European Commission has provided funds for establishing
a sewing and embroidery unit that conducts skills training for women, helps
them start micro businesses and links them to the markets and end users of
the products they produce in this centre. Seeing the impact of this centre
on the lives of families living in the neighbourhood, an Italian women’s
organisation offered its support to establish a Women’s Resource Centre and
provide technical support on designing and business linkages in Italy for
marketing the products that women are producing.
In a conflict ravaged
Syria with virtually inexistent tourism, the women of Hajar al-Aswad are
struggling to market these traditional handicrafts. In this tough moment of
Syrian history when international aid has been suspended and the economy is
shattered, the Italian and the Syrian organisation continue to provide
support to the women of Hajar al-Aswad, to assist their children and to sell
their products in Armadilla’s fair trade shop in Rome.
Even if the impact of
their work is limited in the midst of the political turmoil in Syria, it is
the efforts of organisations such as these and their committed staff that
keep alive the hopes of families in Hajar al-Aswad and show them that the
world cares.
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