The Wakhan Development Partnership is been working to improve the lives of the people of Wakhan by supporting work run by ORA International (Afghanistan), which has been working in Wakhan since 2003. Currently, there are 3 components to the project
Each month, the team visits each village to weigh children under 3, vaccinate children and women of child bearing age, perform antenatal examinations, offer child spacing services and to seek out and follow up people with tuberculosis. Any sick people in the community are also examined. The team has trained a woman selected by the community to perform simple health tasks (offering nutritional advice for children and treating common illness). Each month the team offers more training and support to these women and ensures they have the supplies they need.
Since 2002, the number of children who die before their 5th birthday has fallen from 33% to 21%.
In 2007-8, this programme will cost £15,000 ($30,000)
In 2002, half of children aged 1 year, and a quarter of children aged 2 years were malnourished. This is caused by both a lack of food and poor use of the food available. The team has given the community training in good use of available resources, and for the last 2 years, has distributed fertiliser to each household to create a community food bank for young children. Each household receives 50kg of fertiliser, and at harvest has to contribute 50kg of grain and peas to the food bank. This approach is much cheaper than providing supplementary food stuffs for young children, and also benefits the whole household, and not just the children.
In 2007-8, this programme will cost £19,000 ($38,000)
Indoor smoke pollution in known to cause a significant increase in respiratory disease and premature death in both children and adults. Traditionally in Wakhan, all food is cooked over an open fire, with the smoke escaping through a small hole in the roof. The team is running a trial of a stove with a chimney which will reduce indoor smoke, reduce fuel use, increase the temperature in the house in the winter, and reduce the number of children who get burns from falling into the fire. The initial results are encouraging, and they hope to roll out this programme for all 600 households in the area in 2008.
In 2007-8, this programme will cost £5,000 ($10,000)
In addition to these activities, the team also provides vaccination and some basic health training to the Kirghiz community in the Pamir Mountains.
If you would like a more detailed description of the project, please download this document
.