Medair News No.2 2010

No. 2

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2010

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www.medair.org

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Intelligent Giving no.1 ranked international charity

The Deadly Challenge of Malaria in D. R. Congo

Editorial

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Thanks to you Haiti: Families in Jacmel Return Home as Hurricane Season Begins Sector Report: WASH Safe Water in Droughts, Floods, and Conflicts

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Report from the field Malaria: Dr. David Pitches Reports from D.R. Congo

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Field staff interview “Their stories fill my heart, and they spur me on to keep going.”

Medair UK Unit 3, Taylors Yard 67 Alderbrook Road London SW12 8AD Tel: +44 (0)20 8772 0100 Fax: +44 (0)20 8772 0101 www.medair.org

Simple Solutions that Save Lives from Geoff Andrews, Country Director for D.R. Congo Greetings from Bunia, in the northeast of the country, where I oversee a programme serving more than three quarters of a million vulnerable women, children and men.

Malaria is a serious risk to pregnant women and the leading cause of death for children in the D.R. Congo. In such a vast country, a problem of this scale can seem an impossible challenge—but Medair is providing simple, cost-effective solutions that save lives. You can read more on pages 6 and 7, and find out how your gifts can save and protect those most at risk.

We also report great news from Haiti (see opposite), where families are returning home to safe shelters ahead of the hurricane season.

Medair’s work with local labourers, masons, and carpenters is providing those most in need with the practical support they require to start rebuilding their lives after the earthquakes.

Sources: Medair, unless otherwise stated.

I hope you will be encouraged, as I am, to read about this important work. Your continued support plays a vital role—making it possible for those of us working in the field to bring life-saving relief to the world’s most vulnerable people.

Partners: Funding partners for Haiti USAID, Läkarmissionen, ICAP

Thank you,

Photo credits: Images were taken by Medair staff with the exception of : Page 6 © Medair/Miguel Samper

Funding partners for Southern Sudan Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission (ECHO), DFID BSF (British Government), UNDP (via Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF)), WHO (World Health Organisation), MWRI (Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation) (via Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF)), Swiss Solidarity, UNICEF Funding partners for D.R. Congo Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission (ECHO), EuropeAid Cooperation Office, SDC/DDC (Swiss Government), Chaîne du Bonheur, OFDA/USAID (USA Government), UNDP (via The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and via Pooled Fund) And wonderful private donors like you!

Charity registered in England & Wales no. 1056731 Limited Company registered in England & Wales no. 3213889 © Medair 2010

Geoff, pictured left, at work in D.R.Congo.

Thanks to you

Madame Lapin is shown around her new home.

Haiti: Families in Jacmel Return Home as Hurricane Season Begins Madame Lapin’s life was turned upside down in an instant. Like so many others on 12 January, her home was destroyed, possessions reduced to rubbish, and family members killed.

Madame Lapin told our team what happened when the earthquake struck: “I ran out with the kids and stood on the street.

The air was white with dust, everywhere people running. My neighbour, a young girl, was injured. We took her to the hospital, but it too was collapsing—so we laid her over there. She passed away on the street.”

In the days that followed, a sports field became home to hundreds of families in Jacmel. The field was soon over-crowded with makeshift tents.

There was no sanitation, and when it rained the field flooded. Hundreds of other families slept on the street, unable to return to the wreckage of their homes. To combat the spread of disease in the camp, the threat of crime on the streets, and exposure to imminent hurricanes, Medair put together a plan to move families home quickly.

A Quick Response and Lasting Solution Thanks in good measure to the kindness and rapid generosity of people here in the UK, Medair was able to order specially-designed shelters—enough for 4,500 households (27,000 people). And because the shelters include a solid metal frame, they’re quake resistant and can be transformed into more permanent homes in the future.

For more information: www.medair.org/haiti

This innovative response was praised by a major institutional grant-maker, which has subsequently asked to fund Medair’s work in Haiti for the coming year. So, in addition to protecting thousands of lives in the aftermath, donations in the UK secured major funding to support the people of Jacmel in their long-term recovery to sustainability.

Rebuilding Together Since January, Medair has been helping families clear their land and advising whether structures are safe to use or must be demolished. The rebuilding has pulled communities together, neighbour working with neighbour to help clear the rubble and make plots ready for the new shelters.

Medair has employed local labourers, masons, and carpenters to assist with the construction of the shelters. This not only gets the shelters up quickly—in time to provide protection from the hurricane season—but provides families with money to buy food while employment is hard to find.

Madame Lapin is just one of the thousands being helped because of you and your help in a time of crisis. Thank you for working with us to respond to her and others’ urgent needs.

June | 2010

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Sector Report: WASH

Water treatment systems produce 40,000 litres of clean water each day for families living around Akobo, Southern Sudan.

Safe Water in Droughts, Floods, and Conflicts The provision of safe, clean water is a hugely important part of Medair’s work with the most vulnerable. Here we reflect on the innovative methods Medair employs to provide water in emergencies.

“I am old and have no strength to move and look for water,” said 60-year-old Guled Mohamed Agararan in Somaliland. “I was waiting to die because no one was left in the village. They all had moved to search for water.”

held within them,” said Daniel Ndege, Medair’s Project Manager. “They need another source of water urgently.”

In 2009, severe drought conditions in Somaliland led to a mass exodus from rural areas. Without water, the threat of death loomed for millions of vulnerable people.

Providing safe drinking water is one of Medair’s top priorities. People need water that’s not contaminated with harmful pathogens. In crisis situations, people drink whatever water is available, even if it’s untreated.

However, unsafe water causes deadly diseases that threaten the survival of the most vulnerable.

Medair assessed the most critical villages and learned that drinking water was most urgently needed in rural communities that rely on berkads (water cisterns) to collect rainfall.

“Many of these berkads are cracked and have fallen into such disrepair—what little rain does fall cannot be

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Medair’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector

Medair’s WASH sector focuses on providing sustainable ways for communities to access safe drinking water. When emergencies arise, we respond with a range of shorter-term responses that are adapted to each individual crisis.

Sector Report: WASH

Akobo, Southern Sudan In 2009, violent inter-clan fighting forced 30,000 people from their homes. These internally displaced persons (IDPs) took refuge in and around the Sudanese town of Akobo, putting an enormous strain on the community’s water supply. Long lines formed at every available safe water point.

“At any time, I saw 20 people lined up at a borehole to collect water,” said Medair’s Scott Griebling. “Women and children would wait an hour each time, and would likely make several return journeys each day. If they didn’t want to stand in line, they would go to the disease-ridden river and collect unsafe water instead.”

Medair initiated a malnutrition feeding clinic for the IDPs in Akobo, but staff reported that there was not enough water available to supply the clinic. An emergency water solution was needed.

The SWAT System In Sudan, drilling new boreholes is a difficult task.

Aquifers are often as deep as 100 metres, the groundwater can be salty, and seasonal flooding can contaminate an otherwise successful borehole and pump.

Accessing surface water from ponds and streams also presents challenges. Water levels vary throughout the year and significant treatment is required to make surface water safe to drink.

In 2000, Medair pioneered a special SWAT (Surface Water Treatment) system for use in emergencies in Sudan. This rudimentary system pumps surface water into a flocculation tank for settling out the waste, and then into bladder tanks where it is chlorinated for safe drinking.

“The advantage of SWAT systems is that they can be set up quickly and are robust—which suits the harsher emergency climate,” said Scott. “They are also simple to construct and the local community can be trained to operate and maintain them.”

Community Involvement Gets the Water Flowing Medair met with the Akobo community to propose the installation of two SWAT systems, each capable of producing 20,000 litres per day. The community agreed, provided operators and guards for each SWAT, and took responsibility for daily

maintenance and operation. Upon installation, the community immediately experienced the benefits of a generous supply of safe drinking water.

“The SWAT systems relieved the demand on the existing boreholes, including the one near the clinic,” said Scott. “Some Sudanese doctors initially opposed the system because they didn’t think it could work. But after seeing it in operation, they changed their minds—especially once they had easy access to water for the clinic again!”

Water Trucked to Parched Villages In the rural regions of drought-stricken Somaliland, there was no water available anywhere, let alone water that was safe to drink. Medair took the emergency measure of sending trucks filled with safe water to villages where the need was greatest.

In these parched villages, the most vulnerable people had often been left behind. With so little rain and no water to drink, people like 60-year-old Guled Mohamed Agararan had been left alone to die.

“But Medair came to my rescue!” said the grateful man. “God protect Medair and give them more funds to help the needy.”

During the dry season from May to October, Medair trucked in 3.2 million litres of life-saving water.

“Medair has saved many lives since they started the water-trucking in this region,” said Abdirisak Mohamed Ajep, Director of Water in Togdheer region.

However, with the emergency phase now past, Medair is working on a more lasting solution.

“The water-trucking was a last resort,” said Medair’s Manuel Jagourd. “We are now shifting our focus from emergency relief to the rehabilitation of broken community berkads. These efforts will provide a lasting solution that returns to people the ability to collect and store their own water during the rainy season.”

“That’s the way Medair’s WASH sector works,” concluded Manuel Jagourd. “In emergencies, we find the best short-term solutions to save lives. But our longer-term goal is to increase the capacity of communities so that, in the future, they will have safe drinking water without outside help.”

For more information: www.medair.org/wash June | 2010

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Report from the field

Medair Staff in DRC distribute specially treated, mosquito-repelling nets.

Malaria: Dr. David Pitches Reports from D.R. Congo (DRC) Every minute of the day another person is diagnosed with malaria in one of the 430 health clinics Medair supports in the DRC. Every day, two people die of malaria in the DRC. Many are small children whose immature immune systems are unable to fight the infection. Pregnant women are also very vulnerable due to the extra demands their developing babies place on their bodies.

People often try to put up with the early symptoms of malaria—fever, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and aching joints—which incapacitate, preventing adults from working or children attending school.

Without prompt and effective treatment, more serious symptoms will develop, such as seizures and coma. If the patient does not seek medical help, death will soon follow.

With many communities more than a day’s walk from a health centre, along almost impassable roads, some people never receive professional care. For those who do, it is often too little, too

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late—in the past, the clinics ran out of drugs or only had out-dated, less effective treatments.

I have seen many people arrive severely anaemic, requiring multiple blood transfusions. And I’m staggered, as a doctor, at how people can somehow survive with blood counts so low that in all probability they should have died.

Prevention and Care for Remote Communities In May this year, Medair started a major new project in remote parts of Bas-Uélé and Haut-Uélé districts—aiming to provide improved prevention of and care for patients with malaria.

• Providing specially treated mosquito-repelling nets for children and pregnant women to sleep under will prevent thousands of cases of malaria every year.

Report from the field • Training health workers so they recognise early symptoms and know how to effectively treat the disease will help save lives.

£10

Provides a child or pregnant woman with a specially treated, mosquito-repelling net

£15

Pays for anti-malarial drugs to treat one patient

£45

Covers the cost of training a health worker to recognise the symptoms and provide early treatment against this deadly disease

• Treating pregnant women to reduce the risk of anaemia will enable healthier births.

• Raising community awareness about the disease through public campaigns will increase prevention and aid treatment.

In the time it took you to read this report—another two or three vulnerable people will have been diagnosed with malaria in the districts where Medair works.

We are working hard to ensure that prevention and treatment reach as many of those people as possible—across an area the size of southern England and Wales, with a population of 750,000. It’s a huge challenge, but one I believe we can achieve.

Please join with us—give a gift today, and we will put it to good use, serving remote and vulnerable communities with life-saving care.

You can give a gift today by going online to www.medair.org/donate, or by using the reply form provided.

Thank you so much.

For more information: www.medair.org/congo

“Without Medair, it’s death.”

Marie-Thereze and her family (pictured below right) fled their home when the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army attacked. The food they had worked so hard to grow in their field was stolen, but they escaped with their lives and sought refuge in a camp in Eti where they now live.

Their new home (pictured right) is a simple structure made of straw and tarpaulin that shelters the extended family. It’s still unsafe to return to their village, so they work here in the fields to grow food to eat, unable to find work or leave the camp.

Three of Marie-Thereze’s children have malaria, like so many in this district. There is no way that they could afford treatment for the children—but they are fortunate to live close enough to a Medairsupported health clinic where they can receive treatment at no cost.

Because children (particularly those under five) are so vulnerable, we focus on helping them—aiming to prevent children getting malaria in the first place by providing mosquito nets, encouraging early recognition, and providing effective treatment before the disease becomes deadly.

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Field staff interview

“Their stories fill my heart, and they spur me on to keep going.”

Emma Le Beau is Field Communication Officer in Jacmel, Haiti. Emma talked to us about her role in the emergency response Medair has provided since the earthquakes struck.

Emma meets with beneficiaries in Haiti.

Can you tell us a bit about your work?

I’m a link to help people here communicate their stories through Medair around the world, so I write, photograph, and liaise with the media. I keep constant contact with beneficiary families, following them through the relief and rehabilitation assistance we provide. I spend time in the camps, on the streets, in people’s homes—wherever they are living.

What, for you, sums up the difference Medair is making in Haiti?

Madame Yvonne is a mother and grandmother.

Her family home in Lacroix, a rural village, was destroyed by the earthquake and had to be demolished. With no secure income, buying a new bag of cement would be a challenge, let alone getting it up the mountain.

Can you tell us about the Medair Haiti team?

It’s energetic and enthusiastic! Everyone is giving their all and working long days to get such a huge project fully delivering quickly. The team works across several locations, both urban and rural.

Medair has delivered and helped the family construct a metal-framed transitional shelter. This has provided a new home not just to one vulnerable elderly lady, but to her family of nine people— bringing three generations under safer shelter.

What programmes do you have running right now?

We’re providing essential household items which people lost in the quake, and then a range of shelter solutions customised to the housing needs in different areas. Medair is working to provide safer shelter for 27,000 people.

What gives you hope for the people in Jacmel?

Today, there is hope from the fact that we are here and that help is reaching those who need it. For the future, I have recognised a passion within the Haitian people to move forward and for their nation to develop, if given the opportunity.

If you would like to find out more about working for Medair, please visit www.medair.org/work-with-us or call the UK office on 020 8772 0100.

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