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Training Programs and Community Centers
Resource, Information, and Education Centre Using HIV, Health and Your Community & Community Based Rehabilitation Program Using Disabled Village Children, Zambia, 2003
Thank you for the donation of the two books that you sent us: Disabled Village Children and HIV, Health and Your Community. We have established a resource, information and education centre to enable the general public to have access to information. Members of the general public are free to come to our resource centre to borrow books, which we give them free of charge. Interestingly, most of the trainee teachers have assignments on HIV/AIDS and the book, HIV, Health and Your Communty has always been out of the resource centre. Right now someone from Manze District borrowed it.
Disabled Village Children is used by the physiotherapist and community-based rehabilitation volunteers. We also received a copy of Nothing About Us Without Us from David Werner and through this book we have made contacts to help us make tricycles and wheelchairs. So you can see that books also provide contact information to strengthen organisation through information sharing. Information is power and if our people are to be empowered to make informed decisions they need to have access to information. Hence our appeal for publications to make the information available. . . . Thank you for your support.
Yours sincerely,
Bosswell Mboozi, Chairman
Zambia National Association of the Physically Handicapped, (ZNAPH)
Establishment of Women's Resource Center Using Hesperian Publications, Ghana, 2004
With reference to your letter dated May 5, 2003 we write to apologize for the delay in replying. We once again express our appreciation for these valuable health books, which were all received in good conditions.
The books have lead to the establishment of a community-based Resource centre for women which is performing, creditably especially in the areas of women's health and Reproductive rights, where women seek health information, counseling, pre and –post natal care and treatments.
Our local heath providers, including the community midwives, and the part time nurses make good use of these books which become tools regardless of their Educational backgrounds make the best possible decisions at childbirth, pre- and post natal care, prevention care of HIV/AIDS patients. In fact, we are once again grateful to the Hesperian Foundation, which has actually paved the way in rural health delivery.
We however suggest that more of such valuable, important, Educative, life-saving, and health literacy tools be published in larger quantities to reach out to larger population of Villagers/rural/communities who live far from medical / health centers. We also appreciate your efforts and your solidarity with our community in sending us an information sheet on GLOBAL FUND FOR WOMEN, to enable us seek financial support for our programmes. […]
We wish you a merry x'mas and a Happy new year. May the fruitful relationship between us grow stronger in the years to come so as to achieve total health delivery.
Looking forward to hear for you soon.
Sincerely,
Doris Dzifa
(Secretary)
Community Health Worker Training with Where There Is No Doctor, Uganda, 2003
The following letter is part of our ongoing correspondence with Margaret Nelson, who uses Where There Is No Doctor as the basis for a community health worker training program in Uganda. It illustrates the variety of types of community health work that her students go on to undertake with their training.
I've been wanting to send you an update on David Kasule's translation of WTND [Where There Is No Doctor] to Luganda, but I keep forgetting. Sorry! [...] the translation is completed. He is now seeking recognition for the translation by the Ministry of Health, as well as looking for a publisher.
His orphan work is mushrooming like you can't believe! Another pastor (one of my CHW [Community Health Worker] grads too!) is in the process of joining up and extending this valuable work to his own village area as well. Another one of my grads, who is working in David's small clinic is due to deliver a baby any day. After her delivery, David is going to start sending her twice a week to a small local prison, where the inmates receive no health care at all (up to 50% of the prison population in our rural areas die from neglect, overwork and malnutrition) initially to provide treatment for malaria.
Over the past months we were searching for one of my higher level CHW grads (who speak English) to work for a nearby Baptist mission. They had fired their school nurse for poor performance. Then in December one of their school children died as a result of being sent to a local "nurse." The child had an infected splinter in his foot and she sent him to a traditional healer, where the child died of blood poisoning. To my amazement and delight, I have found that I was unable to find any of my grads available (until about 2 weeks ago) because they were all busy working in their own villages, utilizing their trainings from WTND and making a difference!
Thanks to Hesperian for making our work possible in these developing countries!
Margaret Nelson
Health Worker/Health Volunteer Training with Where There Is No Doctor and A Book for Midwives, Pakistan
I, with confirmation, can say that Where There Is No Doctor and A Book for Midwives are most valuable and useful. They are more practical than even all medical education related books. It is essential to build capacity of willing volunteers at village level... I am using [these books] during training of female health workers, Traditional Birth Attendants, health staff's skill improvements, school teacher training workshops about health education and male health volunteers at village level.
Dr. Parsram Pardesi, Sindh
Health Cadre Training Program, Nigeria
I wish to write and express my happiness and pleasure for the books you donated. The staff, students and I were so much elated that I was advised that I should write to thank you immediately. I am the most senior health worker in our area, which is responsible for the field practice training of all cadres of community health workers of the School of Health Technology. Thus, we are directly linked to training and service provision. Your kind gesture, therefore, is a commendable one and will go a long way in offering us a source of information which hitherto has been our problem.
Feedback on A Book for Midwives from a Training Program for Midwives in the Guatemalan Highlands
A Book for Midwives has been an invaluable tool. Your holistic (personal, political, practical) approach is very relevant… without including "why" things are the way they are, we can't help people understand the larger social-economic context. Your publications are without a doubt the best source available for working in the developing world (and applicable in the "developed" world as well). Thank you!!!! I couldn't do what I do without you.
Nurse-Midwife, Jenna Houston
Launch of Community Health Worker Training Using Where There Is No Doctor in Ghana
I have received your parcel which encloses a copy of Where There Is No Doctor three weeks ago. I was filled with joy as you are ready to help me prevent frequent loss of lives in my village. . . . Your additional letter stated that I should write to you about how I am using the book. The following are the actions I have taken within this short period of time.
First of all, I have organised some youths in the community who are interested to become health workers also and I have started discussing with them on how to give first aid to some health problems with the help of the book so that , within the shortest period we can be more to carry out the work effectively. Now bilhazia which was a great problem is now under control with the help of the medicine Praziquantel as stated in the green page. Three days ago, I organised a talk about the prevention of diarrhoea and cholera and hygiene as a whole. Another thing I did was to organise for communual labour to build latrines to prevent the indiscriminate toileting in the village. There are a total of 9 latrines in the town so far. Finally, I am studying seriously with the book as stated on page W5. I have done a lot with the help of the book and I will be doing more. Thanks for your precious help.
Secondary School Teacher, Dambai, Volta Region
Where There Is No Doctor, Helping Health Workers Learn, and Disabled Village Children in Medical, Nursing, and Health Worker Training, Uganda
The books donated to us have been a useful resource. They are useful to both Nursing and Medical students, especially during their community rotation. The community based health care facilitators are also using them as a resource for preparing relevant teaching to the communities. 'The books are a relevant tool for working with communities in Africa'.
'They provide the means of letting marginalised groups (the poor, women and children) themselves participate in their own health and development'.
Thank you for continuing to support our work.
Gad Ruzaaza,
Coordinator, Community Based Medical Education Programme,
Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda.
Use of HIV, Health, and Your Community in Community Education and Health Assistant Training in Nepal, 2002
One copy of the books I have forwarded to our Sakriya Unit, our HIV/AIDS project in United Mission to Nepal dedicated to raising awareness of the issues surrounding HIV and AIDS as well as seeking to help affected individuals find the support they need. Our Sakriya Unit has facilitated the first ever HIV/AIDS counseling workshop in Nepal and will continue to seek ways to work with communities to gain an understanding of the issues.
The second book we will continue to use as a reference as we develop health education matierals for the Mugom first language materials and also in my Health Assistant Training Course with monks at Shechen Monastery.
Mugu Education Project – UMN
South Asia Group
Community Education and Training of Birth Attendants with Where There Is No Doctor, Ghana, 2000
Greetings from (myself ) and all the villages of Kokoro Junction send their warm greetings to you. I have received your book posted to me on the 21st of Feb., 2000 with much thanks. I have been sharing the contents with the villages of Dokoro Junction. This book is helping us very well. We are all farmers here. The book is helping us on our nutrition, snake bites, cutlass wounds and how pregnant women take their diets, and cleanliness to prevent mosquitoes to prevent malaria. The book has helped us train women who look after our pregnant women when they are giving birth. Our women now deliver at the village nowadays without any problem. . . We have now established first aid centre here and it's improving. Your book Where There Is No Doctor is helping us. Much greetings to you with much thanks.
Local Farmers' Group, Wasa