India – Alongside leprosy sufferers, the disabled and HIV-positive people
The MAGIS Foundation's support for the project Rebuilding Communities Affected by Leprosy, HIV/AIDS and Physical Disability in Vijayapura (India), which officially started in February 2023 at St Joseph's Health and Community Centre in Vijayapura, continues. But already before this date, the project staff had been recruited and trained by Father Teyol Machado Sj, Director of the Centre for Non-Formal Education and implementing partner. After the orientation period, the staff came into contact with government departments and partner organisations: networking with local health facilities is one of the key components of this project.
The month of March 2023 was dedicated to women throughout Vijayapura. An ideal time to get in touch with the women who normally take care of the health of the whole family. The project staff participated in thirteen Women's Day programmes: they shared information about leprosy, HIV and physical disability and the facilities people can go to.
A little more hectic was the work done in April 2023. Not only because of the summer season, but also because of the elections in Karnataka. The election code of conduct prohibits holding any kind of meetings, so the staff is reaching out to individuals through health initiatives to provide them with the assistance they need. The situation will normalise after 13 May, when the elections are over.
If we want to give some figures for this first quarter, we can say that (as of 26 April 2023) 189 patients have received care. In all, there were 78 admissions (41 males and 37 females). Of these patients, only one female died, the remaining 77 returned home with improved health and are now leading normal lives.
In conclusion, since the start of the project to date, there have been thirteen awareness-raising programmes, conducted in cooperation with various partner organisations in Vijayapura district, which have reached more than 9,000 people who now know more about AIDS, leprosy and physical disability and in case of health problems know where to turn to. Together with the awareness programmes, some of the patients were identified, examined and referred to hospitals for further medical care and treatment.
Project staff also visited the NLEP (National Leprosy Eradication Programme) centre and the 'Physical Disability and DAPCO' centre to gather information for the awareness programmes.
Source : Fondazionemagis.org
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