Earlier this week I escorted a
friend to visit a patient at one of our local hospitals, in the
course of our chat with him (the patient) he started sharing a story about a
child who died upon reaching Kakoma Health center in Chikwawa district. It was
narrated that the mother accompanied by other relatives arrived at the facility
during dawn; by that time the child was very dehydrated and also anemic. After
observing such critical vital signs he decided to invite his colleague to
help providing treatment to the child. I listened to the story with keen
interest considering that I knew the area which is within a catchment area
where many organizations conduct their activities. Our patient friend proceeded
saying that he and his friend couldn’t do much to assist the child because it
was just a health center with few resources within their reach and apart from
that the mother and relatives did not
rush with the child to the hospital while they started observing the
signs. It was sad to hear at the end that
the child did not last longer, he couldn’t battle with the sickness which was suspected
to be malaria. The story would have a good ending only if the mother had rushed
her at the health center.
There are many lives that are lost because of
lack of good treatment seeking behavior. World Health Organization highlights
that in Malawi; the major causes of infant deaths are pneumonia (23%),
underweight (22%), diarrheal diseases (18%) and malaria (14%). After the first
year of life, infections from the communicable childhood diseases of tetanus,
whooping cough, diphtheria, poliomyelitis and measles are the major cause of
death in children. In 2010 Infant mortality rate was estimated at 66 per 1,000
live births and the rate is expected to decline to as low as 41 deaths per 1000
live births by 2015. From experience I believe
community engagement can help to make a difference on the matter, Chikwawa
comprises of spatial communities which are also far from health centers and
apart from that many people have not yet adopted the practice of seeking
treatment at the centers. This is due to various reasons. With community engagement
we can bring change in these communities by telling them more about diseases
that are locally costing many lives, a
two way community engagement would create a platform for them to ask as many
questions as they can. The activities would include community meetings which have
been tried and have proved to be successful, another way which is currently
promoted is Theater for Development and it’s promising to make a difference as
well. Organization should start planning to invest in behavior change
projects that save lives including children who do not deserve to die in this
simple way while we know their live would be saved. Engaging groups such as women, men and
community leaders would help to bring change in communities about their health eventually
mortality would be reduced. Community engagement is a strong value and
fundamental practice of public health. The importance of engaging the community
is grounded in the belief that the public has a right to participate.
Reference
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