Transcript Mennonite Health Care in DR Congo by Franklin Baer

Mennonite
Health Care in
DR Congo
by Franklin Baer
Senior Advisor to I.M.A. for SANRU III
Baertracks, Harrisonburg VA
How can we
help to improve
the health of
people in DR
Congo?
Ten Commandments of Health
1) Exclusive Breastfeeding
2) Vaccinate completely
3) Vitamin A twice a year
4) Sleeping under bednets (ITN)
5) Prompt treatment for fevers
6) Oral Rehydration Therapy for diarrhea
7) Washing hands regularly
8) Prenatal preventive treatment of malaria
9) Child Spacing
10) Abstinence and loyalty to avoid AIDS
The Ten Commandments of Health
Ten Commandments of Health
Mennonite Health Work in DR Congo
The blue lines show
all the “paved”
roads of Congo!
The 306
Health Zones
of DR Congo
Health Zones are . . .
1) Well-defined geographic areas
2) Strongly decentralized
3) Often co-managed by FBOs
1) Health Zones are
well-defined
geographic areas
 Population of 150,000
 Communities (200)
 Health centers (20)
 A referral hospital (1)
Health Zones
and Health Care
in DR Congo
The Health Zone of Nyanga
(West Kasai Province)
NYANGA
A Typical
Health Zone
Reference Hospital
HZ Office
Health Centers
2) HZs are strongly decentralized
 Defined from the bottom up
 Survive by local initiatives and
auto-financing
 Well positioned as “middle-out”
development agents
400 Hospitals in Congo (c. 1973)
1975-1981
1982-1983: SANRU I begins
1984-1985
3) Health Zones are often
co-managed by FBOs
 Very good collaboration between the
MOH and FBOs
 FBOs are not confused with the forprofit private sector
 50% of HZs co-managed by FBOs
FBO/NGO Co-managed Health Zones
306
Health
Zones
515
Health
Zones
Populations Served by Mennonite
Co-Managed Health Zones
Health Zone
Population
Kajiji
Mukedi
Kalonda-Ouest
Mutena
Ndjokopunda
Nyanga
Banga
150,000
160,000
220,000
130,000
120,000
100,000
85,000
965,000
The I.M.A./ECC Congo Projects
SANRU III
ECC-I.M.A
PMURR/SANTE
Project Goals
SANRU & PMURR
Strengthen and sustain the capacity of
health zones to provide and manage
priority primary health care interventions.
Four NGO Development Strategies
From Getting to the 21st Century by David Korten
Priority PHC Interventions
1) Exclusive Breastfeeding
2) Vaccinate completely
3) Vitamin A twice a year
4) Sleeping under bednets (ITN)
5) Prompt treatment for fevers
6) Oral Rehydration Therapy for diarrhea
7) Washing hands regularly
8) Prenatal preventive treatment of malaria
9) Child Spacing
10) Abstinence and loyalty to avoid AIDS
SANRU & PMURR 75 Health Zones
A Typical Health Center in Kalonda Health Zone
Rehabilitation Efforts in Collaboration with SANRU
Well Baby Clinics
Vaccinations, Vitamin A, Growth Monitoring, Health Education
Two Questions
1) What assistance can and should N.
American Mennonites provide to
help with this work?
2) What effective mechanisms could
get that assistance where it can do
the most good?
Possible Strategies
1) Encourage the new Partnership Council to put
health care on its development agenda
2) Strengthen the role of CMCO & CFMC in the
co-management of health zones
3) Organize informational mtgs. of N. Amer.
partners to discuss how they can help.
4) Compare sustainable systems development
strategies with other denominations
5) Coordinate assistance with I.M.A./ECC’s
SANRU and PMURR projects
Santé
Pour Tous
et par Tous