Annual report 2005 Malteser International - Ordine di Malta

supports the local health care systems in
the provinces of South Kivu and Ituri in
the east of the country. The basis for this
is our cooperation with the health care
facilities in the provinces and with local
non-governmental organisations. We
regularly provide more than 300 health
care centres and other medical facilities
with medicine and medical equipment,
so that they can carry out their services
uninterrupted. In this way, over 900,000
people in Kivu and around 1.8 million
people in Ituri get access to improved
primary health care. We believe a
crucial factor is the training of local staff,
conducted by our experts and providing
medical advice. In addition, we collect
comprehensive data to track health care
development in the region and assess the
effect of local measures.
In 2003, we extended our programmes
in both regions to provide more
comprehensive help in terms of psychosocial
and medical care for the numerous
victims of sexual abuse. Since then,
28 centres linked with primary health
care facilities have opened up in South
Kivu for sexual abuse victims, offering
specialist medical treatment and psychosocial
care. A crucial role here is played
by expert training and further education,
Birgit Betzelt
focussing on combating trauma, as well
as the monitoring of local staff and
workers from local aid organisations.
Thanks to sensitisation and awareness
campaigns amongst the population and
of the military in cooperation with local
authorities, we are able to confront sexual
abuse on a wide basis. Over the last year,
more than 10,000 abused and raped girls
and women have sought medical and
psycho-social treatment at the health care
centres supported by us. We estimate that
a further 10,000 girls and women will
seek professional help this year, too.
A further focus of our work in South
Kivu is our programme for food security,
which aims to make the population
more independent of external aid on a
P R I M A R Y H E A LT H C A R E :
Every human being should have access to
fundamental medical care – a fact that is
taken for granted, but which is not yet a
reality in many countries. In addition to
the prevention and treatment of infectious
diseases, the most crucial elements of
primary health care are immunisation
programmes and safe access to drinking
water, food and medicine. Others include
care for pregnant women, children and
the chronically sick, as well as training for
medical staff and health education. With
as little as EUR 35, we can ensure primary
health care for a child or an adult person in
Africa or Asia for a whole year.
DR Congo: Work
with women forms
a focal point of
our projects in
South Kivu.
long-term basis. To this end, we have
set up 13 nutrition centres in which
undernourished children under the age
of five can be nursed back to health, as
well as ten centres for small livestock
breeding. Via 23 centres for food security,
we distribute seeds to the population,
making a sustainable contribution to selfsufficiency
in these areas. At the nutrition
centres, we train staff who then establish
demonstration gardens to show the
population suitable cultivation methods
and provide nutritional advice.
DR Congo: Support for over 300 health care centres with medicine and medical equipment.
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A F R I C A