'Two Years For Health' Community Health Education Programme - Ngauma, Northern Mozambique
Situation:
Mozambique, a south eastern nation of Africa has one of the highest under 5 & maternal mortality rates. Lack of access to effective healthcare means high rates of deaths from malaria, diarrhoea & malnutrition. Malaria remains the greatest single cause of child deaths. At a national level, interventions to combat malaria have had significant success, but the number of malaria deaths among children living in remote areas remains high. Two Years for Health aims to equip rural communities with knowledge to understand and prevent health issues such as malaria diarrhoea & malnutrition.
Objectives:
"Two Years for Health" is a project within “Together for Health” programme which seeks to address health needs in Niassa Province. The methodology developed is a cost-effective, sustainable, replicable way to improve health in rural communities. It is based on the project manager’s 30 years of experience setting up four community health projects and supporting government health services in Mozambique.
- Trained government health staff working with communities
- Implemented KAP surveys and community registers of births and deaths established
- Trained & supported child health promoters & maternal health promoters.
- Trained & supported health advisors
- Trained malaria combat agents
The project will:
- Facilitate collaboration between the staff of 3 government health centres & 27communities that utilise those centres.
- Mobilize & support community-led initiatives that improve health knowledge & practices & increase the uptake of health services for 21,000 that live in this area.
- Design, pilot & document a new methodology to enhance malaria testing & treatment for children
This project is replicated every two years, hence the title. At the end of the two years, the team move onto another community to begin the same work. During the project, there is a strong emphasis on passing on knowledge learnt to family members and neighbours.
