Preventative Health

H.E.L.P. - Health Education Ladies Program

H.E.L.P. - Health Education Ladies Program

SERVE's longest running program is Public Health. It was first started in 1981 to work among the Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Besides publishing material and teaching on health issues, the project at that time also provided vaccinations. Currently, it's main focus is to raise the level of health awareness for children and their families by teaching and promoting good health practices in schools.

Help for the Vulnerable - In times of war most victims are civilians and the most vulnerable among them are woman and children. Many women and children have died in Afghanistan, and those that survive are faced with traumas, injuries and the loss of family members. The infant mortality rate is very high: 150 children out of every 1000 born die each year before their first birthday. Besides the devastating impact of the war, there are also other factors that make the situation for women and children very difficult. Many children die because of diarrhea or other diseases which could be prevented through vaccinations or health education. Malnourishment is a widespread phenomena affecting approximately one fourth of children under the age of three. To meet the need of this vulnerable target group, SERVE developed two projects: Public Health and the Family Casework Programme.

SERVE's Activities:

Teaching basic health topics to primary school children
Developing and publishing health education material
Delivering health education through young women’s clubs
Providing food supplies to families with malnourished children
Giving their mothers health and nutrition teaching

Nazaneen, the Bright Student - Nazaneen is an intelligent student and never misses her club. She has great interest and always comes on time. She has learned all her lessons thoroughly and when she returns home, she tells her mother, sisters, and relatives all the things she has learned. One day Nazaneen went to one of her relative's houses with her mother. She saw a child with a severe fever lying on the bed. The child's mother had wrapped the child in many blankets and she was crying. When Nazaneen observed the situation, she hastily took the blankets away from the patient and covered the child in cotton clothes. She gave the patient half of a paracetamol tablet and a little lemon drink. A while later the child, who was seriously ill, opened his eyes and his fever started decreasing gradually. The patient's mother was very happy and was eager to learn about these sorts of cures. Nazaneen gave her a lot of information. The mother was very glad and said that she would send her daughter to this club too. She asked Nazaneen to tell her teachers to expand these programmes to teach woman like herself.

Worms from Eating Too Much Candy? - Health and hygiene education is a very important part of FCP (Family Casework Programme). Although being poor effects the situation of the child negatively, its not always the reason why the child is malnourished. Often it is also because of a lack of health knowledge. Many illnesses like diarrhea and worms can be prevented simply by knowing what causes the sicknesses. There are many stories about health that are not true. For example, many people think that worms come from eating too much candy, and a few families said that they thought eating too much oil in their food caused malaria.

"At the end of the four months health lessons many of the mothers expressed great appreciation for the health teachings that were given. It's great to see that the mothers pass on the health teaching to neighbours. In that way whole communities take advantage of the information that's given by FCP." - An FCP worker

Little Nargis' Story - The weakest child in one of the programmes, Nargis, started with an arm circumference of 6cm and weighed 5 kilograms at one and half years of age. Nargis also had a rapid heartbeat and often experienced convulsions. She was growing weaker every day when the health workers found her. When they talked to the mother she said she was afraid of giving Nargis food because she would often end up having diarrhea. However, at the end of the four-month period that our community health workers spent working with the family, Nargis was crawling, communicating, and expressing herself. Her arm circumference increased to 9,5 cm and she weighted 6,5 kg. Now Nargis has an appetite and is developing. Nargis' heartbeat has normalized and she has not had a convulsion since receiving nutritious meals her mother has been taught to prepare.