In January, we announced that Bread and Water for Africa® would be partnering this year with Technologies Appropriées pour le Congo (TAC Asbl) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to operate a mobile medical clinic program to serve the most at-risk populations in the impoverished war-torn country.
And those most at risk?
“The region’s poorest indigenous peoples: the Pygmies,” reports TAC Asbl Executive Director Lucien Beele.
With grant funding from Bread and Water for Africa®, made possible by the generous donations from our supporters across the U.S., Lucien told us in his grant request that “By funding the establishment of mobile clinics, we will expand our coverage area and increase our accessibility to isolated families, namely the Pygmies who are now the most marginalized and deprived in society.
“This will result in a narrowing of the health gap between populations and an improvement in human epidemic statistics in the region.”
In addition, by training community health workers at the health zone offices of Ntondo, Bikoro and Iboko, which will be supplying TAC Asbl with medicines and some medical equipment for the mobile clinics, as well as directly involving beneficiaries in the management of their service, “we will build local capacity and create autonomy for communities,” says Lucien.
“This is vital for the long-term sustainability of any health program. This will be crucial in helping us to innovatively protect the health of the people we serve.”
As Lucien explained:
“The Bikoro, Iboko, and Ntondo health zone, in the sparsely populated, poor, largely rural community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Equateur province, is made up of isolated and remote villages.
“These pygmy groups, who often live on the fringes of society, have an even larger problem accessing health division.
“This results in an extreme degree of vulnerability due to their inability to cover medical care, in terms of both unstable financial situations and the logistics needed to obtain medical care.”
The pygmy communities are located in isolated regions, where there is practically no infrastructure – no streets but dirt roads “which during the rainy season become impassible” and no access to clean water.
“Moreover, the lack of medicines worsens the health situation in the area, especially for pygmies who do have the means to go to the few existing health centers,” Lucien told us.
Despite all these challenges, Lucien remains steadfast and resolute in his mission of addressing health inequalities in the region.
“We do so with the desire to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life and health of indigenous peoples, often forgotten and marginalized.”
Among the services offered through the mobile clinics are the implementation of vaccination campaigns against measles, polio, diphtheria and the distribution of insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets to prevent malaria and treating malaria cases with appropriate drugs.
For infants and children in particular, the mobile clinics will screen for early detection and treatment of acute respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases, “which are among the main causes of infant mortality,” and the implementation of nutrition programs to combat malnutrition among children and pregnant women.
Lucien estimated that through the mobile clinics program, a total of 4,500 individuals from 15 villages will benefit from the project’s services, with an estimated 50 to 70 people evaluated per day.
In February, Lucien filed a report detailing the progress of the mobile clinic project telling us that “building on the initial operations launched in January, we have continued to expand our reach and services.”
During February, the mobile clinic visited 10 villages and treated 450 individuals and providing information through medical consultations regarding hygiene awareness, disease prevention and chronic disease monitoring.
“We are pleased with the progress made in February and remain committed to providing quality healthcare to rural communities. We thank Bread and Water for Africa® for its continued support.”
And from all of us at Bread and Water for Africa® we are looking forward to the life-saving partnership with Lucien and TAC Asbl for many years to come.
