HH-LR-Brochure

• Get actively involved and engage others • Conduct fundraising and solicit corporate support • Help network with other NGO's and charities to work in Sri Lanka

Strengthening Communities.

Improving Lives.

• Train the next generation of health care professionals to work in vulnerable Sri Lankan communities

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To find out more, visit www.imhousa.org or email imho@imhousa.org

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Natural disasters such as the December 2004 tsunami and years of political conflict have left many areas of this small island nation without access to even basic medical and health care.

IMHO is a non-profit, non-political charity made up of health care and non-medical volunteers who share a commitment to help the people of Sri Lanka strengthen their communities.

By offering training and health care to local populations as well as medical assistance to people at risk, IMHO helps to rehabilitate devastated health care systems and bring communities back to self-reliance.

Many things we need, can wait.

The child cannot.

Now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made his mind is being developed.

To him we cannot say tomorrow.

His name is today.

Volunteer and financial support is needed to…

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The International Medical Health Organization (IMHO) is a US-based humanitarian aid organization dedicated to empowering communities in Sri Lanka to rebuild a sustainable health care and medical infrastructure.

In Sri Lanka, natural disasters and more than 20 years of civil conflict has taken its toll on the health care infrastructure. IMHO needs support to help the people in the most vulnerable areas of this small island nation. Please consider being a volunteer or making a tax-deductible donation to assist our organization in making a difference in the lives of people who need our help.

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Health Care for Those Most In Need

With this core belief, IMHO has a mission to restore the primary health care infrastructure necessary to serve the communities most in need. Once this goal is reached, the IMHO vision is to expand the health care infrastructure to also provide much needed psychological and acute care for families and children.

Mahatma Gandhi

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IMHO believes that an emphasis on primary health care is essential to improving the physical, mental and social wellbeing for individuals and communities. It is the foundation for hope in a better future.

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

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IMHO Mission

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International Medical Health Organization PO Box 901 Bel Air, MD 21014-0901

“He who has health, has hope.

And he who has hope, has everything.”

The first patient to receive radiotherapy at Tellipalai Cancer Hospital

Treasurer to IMHO PO Box 61265 Staten Island, NY 10306

www.imhousa.org

Current & Future Projects

Established in 2003, the dedicated efforts of IMHO volunteers working together with local communities have improved the access and quality of health care in the most vulnerable areas of Sri Lanka following the tsunami.

• Immediately after the tsunami, emergency medications and medical supplies were purchased • Five million water purification tablets were sent from India to provide clean drinking water • Two hundred tents were sent to devasted areas to provide temporary housing • Travel for more than 400 doctors and other volunteers was coordinated to send people to the tsunami affected areas of Sri Lanka.

All volunteers traveled on their own expense • Millions of dollars worth of medications and medical supplies donated by US-based charity organizations, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals were collected and transported to Sri Lanka • Working closely with Dr.William McConnell and the Church of the Reedemer in Baltimore, MD, five water purification machines were purchased and transported to Sri Lanka • Three ambulances were purchased and provided to three primary health care centers • Post-tsunami, three additional vehicles were bought in Sri Lanka to transport patients and medical personnel for health related work and to conduct mobile health clinics

Going forward, there is an ever-increasing need to both maintain what has been built and expand health care access to serve more people in need. IMHO is committed to working with local Sri Lankan communities to rebuild the health care infrastructure and improve the lives of families and children.

Current initiatives IMHO is undertaking include continuing efforts to build primary health care centers, supporting the development of the Institute of Health Sciences and the creation of specialized psychiatric units with short-term and long-term facilities.

Future projects that will require on-going support from IMHO volunteers and donors include: • Continue to respond to urgent and emergency medical needs • Creation of a nutrition program for about 3,000 pregnant mothers in the Jaffna Peninsula who are severely malnourished (BMI < 18.5) and subsequent expansion of the program to serve the rest of the island at a cost of US $100 per pregnancy • Construction and development of primary health care centers in other impoverished areas of the island • Further expansion of the Institute of Health Sciences (IHS) to train more allied health care professionals • Development of psychosocial care and rehabilitation services in the Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts including long term plans for victory home (vettri manai) • Expansion of oncologic and cardiology services at the Jaffna and Batticaloa Teaching Hospitals • Development of a diabetic center at the Jaffna Teaching hospital at a cost of US $70,000 • Funding for construction of a mental health unit in Vavuniya, which would be the first of its kind, at a cost of US $40,000 • Improvement to the laboratory facilities at the Jaffna Teaching hospital at a cost of US $502,600

IMHO Completed Projects IMHO funding and support has enabled many significant achievements including: • Primary Health Care Centers Construction and development of three primary health care centers. Each center treats about 350 patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

These centers conduct mobile clinics to serve internally displaced (IDP) camps. The cost to treat each patient is US $1 • Medical Education and Training There is a severe shortage of allied health care professional in Sri Lanka especially in the war-torn areas. IMHO has funded more than US $30,000 to support the Institute of Health Sciences (IHS), which has taken on the massive responsibility of addressing the health care staff shortage • Capacity building projects IMHO funding has provided an incentive allowance for doctors who serve in remote areas of the small islands off the coast of the Jaffna peninsula as well as other remote areas at a cost of US $8,400/year

Lyankakulam Health Center • Projects in Psychiatry: IMHO donated US $23,700 towards the construction and development of Kalmunai Mental Health unit in the Batticaloa district.

This project was co-funded by World Health Organization (WHO). IMHO funding provided training for psychiatric counselors in Annai illam in Kilinochchi by Fr. Reginald • Projects in Cardiology A non-interventional cardiology unit has been established in the Mullaitivu district with facilities for EKG, echocardiogrtam, exercise stress test, Holter monitoring and external pace-making and defibrillation Institute of Health Sciences under construction

• Emergency funds and response IMHO Assisted people in IDP camps in the districts of Batticalao, Mannar, Trincomalee and Vavuniya by providing clean water, sanitary facilities, nutritional food and basic health care.

The project was coordinated by Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) at a cost of US $20,000 After increasing conflicts in the north-east of the island and the closure of the A9 highway caused severe shortages of medication at area hospitals, IMHO purchased approximately US $50,000 worth of essential medication and transported to hospitals in dire need

Dialysis Unit donated

by IMHO

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