anan clinica newletter jan 13
DESCRIPTION
From June the 4th until July the 27th 2012, Joris Versluijs, a medical student from the Netherlands, was working as a volunteer for Anan Clinica. He left the Dutch hospitals and decided to do his public health internship with Anan Clinica. It was his first time in Africa.TRANSCRIPT
Anan Clinica | P.O.Box 88 | Nacala Porto | Nampula | Mozambique
Stichting Anan Clinica at Bilthoven | the Netherlands | www.ananclinica.com | [email protected] page 1
Anan Clinica Newsletter • nr 6 • Jan 2013 AnanC
linica
Malnutrition, diarrhoea, malaria and drinking waterFrom June the 4th until July the 27th 2012, Joris Versluijs,
a medical student from the Netherlands, was working as
a volunteer for Anan Clinica. He left the Dutch hospitals
and decided to do his public health internship with Anan
Clinica. It was his first time in Africa.
Mozambique is a beautiful country with an astonishing
nature and amazing people. However, Mozambique is very
poor and it has a low quality of healthcare. The figures are
shocking: the mortality rate among children under the age
of 5 is according to the World Health Organisation (WHO)
one of the highest in de world. This child mortality is the
highest in the northeast of Mozambique. That is where
Nanatha is located.
The leading causes of death among children under the
age of 5 are neonatal causes and pneumonia. Malaria and
diarrhoea diseases closely follow. Malaria and diarrhoea
are diseases that can be prevented by proper education.
This was the main reason Joris wanted to focus on malaria,
diarrhoea, malnutrition, especially among children, and the
drinking water during his stay.
Malaria
The previous volunteers, Maaike and Marleen, produced a
theatre about malaria. The Activistas were the actors in
page 2 | Anan Clinica | Newsletter nr 6
the play. They taught the community about malaria and
how to prevent it. The community loved these theatres
and learned a lot from them. Joris continued these theatre
plays and he made mosquito nets available for the
community. Mosquito nets are one of the most important
measures to prevent malaria.
Diarrhoea and drinking water He also re-introduced a theatre that Jose, a volunteer who
also worked for Anan Clinica, produced. The theatre was
about diarrhoea; how it is caused, how to prevent it and
how to treat dehydration with oral rehydration solution
(ORS). ORS is a mixture of water, salt and sugar. To ensure
self-reliance, Joris taught the Activistas how to work as
village health workers to provide children with diarrhoea
with ORS.
One of the causes of diarrhoea is contaminated drinking
water. Nanatha has two wells with a hand pump. One
of these pumps is frequently broken. Alternative water
sources, which are often used, are dug holes in de ground.
The ground water that surfaces here looks very dirty.
Joris tested the drinking water of the community with a
homemade turbidity tube and a microbial testing kit. The
results were, not surprisingly, disappointing. The water
from the wells with hand pump is good, but the water
from the dug holes is very turbid and contaminated. This
water is dangerous to drink and further steps are needed
to help the community.
Malnutrition Lutske, volunteer and founder of Anan Clinica, provided an
overview of the nutritional state of the children 2 years
ago. She published the shocking results on the website
of Anan Clinica. Joris decided to repeat this assessment.
Diarhoea and drinking water
page 3
Silva in the middle
desi
gn: B
oots
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n
For donations: 44.68.04.444;
Stichting Anan Clinica at Bilthoven, the Netherlands.
Anan Clinica
Anan Clinica Foundation is a non-religious charity that
aims to increase local knowledge of health issues and the
scope, quality, accessibility, acceptability and coverage of
primary health care services for the underserved people
of the Nanatha community in Northern Mozambique.
Anan Clinica focusses primarily on health education and
basic hygiene facilities.
Unfortunately, the nutritional state of the children is
still sorrowful. So there is still much to achieve. Detailed
results are shown on the website or and facebook page of
Anan Clinica. Interested? Surf to www.ananclinica.com
A big thank you to Joris We would like to thank Joris for his dedication and
enormous support to the Nanatha community. He worked
very hard and was very much loved by the community!
Many thanks Joris. Your work is very much appreciated.
Silva
With great regret we have to announce that Silva, one of
our ‘ Activisitas’ has passed away. He was a committed
and enthusiastic Activista. He died of sickness with
unknown cause. Our thoughts are with his family.
Anan Clinica | P.O.Box 88 | Nacala Porto | Nampula | Mozambique
Stichting Anan Clinica at Bilthoven | the Netherlands | www.ananclinica.com | [email protected] page 4
Together anything is possible! Together anything is possible and also your
help will be very welcomed. It can be as simple
(but not less important) as making a financial
donation, volunteering time and knowledge;
even a useful suggestion or good idea can take
us further in helping the Nanatha Community. If
you are interested don’t hesitate to contact us:
For more information about Anan Clinica, please
visit our website: www.ananclinica.com.
For donations 44.68.04.444Stichting Anan Clinica at Bilthoven, the Netherlands