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“I used
to be a village healer. Before the Health Unlimited training we did not
think it was possible to prevent some of the deaths in our village.
Killing pigs to appease the spirits was the only way we ever knew. Now
we use mosquito nets to protect ourselves from malaria”
- Nim Nyam,
Khok Kong village.
Background
Lao PDR
(People's Democratic Republic) is one of the least developed
countries in the world and the Attapeu province is a poor and remote
region at the southernmost tip of the country. Chronic malnutrition is
a problem where villagers have insufficient food 4-8 months of the year
and infant and maternal mortality rates are very high.
 In the rainy
season many routes become impassable and remote villages are cut off.
Therefore, immunisation
coverage is patchy and access to antenatal and postnatal care is
non-existent. Women’s knowledge of sexual and reproductive health is
very poor.
There is limited information on family planning and women
often give birth in unsafe conditions without properly trained birth
attendants, increasing their risk of dying in childbirth. Children die
of malaria, diarrhoea and typhoid. These are entirely preventable
deaths.
Finally, ill health
increases poverty and hampers long-term development because people
simply become too weak to be productive. Read more about Indigenous
Peoples' view on health and well being
here.
What are we doing to address
these issues?
Read about Health Unlimited's
current Maternal and Child Health Project in
Attapeu. View a
slideshow about the project.
Read about Health
Unlimited's current project addressing
Food Security and Nutrition
in Attapeu.
Our country office in Laos
will also be starting two new projects this year. The first one, with
funding from the Global Fund, will be working in Luang Nam Tha and
Savannakhet (both of them new areas for Health Unlimited in the North),
Saravan, Sekong and Attapeu (all in the South and in the same area as
our current project, featured in the enclosed newsletter). Its focus
will be on malaria work in indigenous communities, developing health
education communications materials, training Village Health Volunteers
in malaria diagnosis and treatment. The second project, with funding
from the UNFPA, following on from an earlier
Sexual and Reproductive Health project for
young people in Saravan, Sekong and Attapeu, will work closely
with the Provincial Health Department and the District Health Department
to build the capacity of local health staff to work at village level and
continue raising awareness on sexual and reproductive health issues
affecting young people in rural Laos.
Read about our
previous work in Lao, PDR.
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