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Health &
Sanitation Projects |
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Azafady Madagascar
has been running health and sanitation projects for
the last 7 years. Our initial long-term cholera prevention
strategy project has been completed and we continue
our work in other communities within Project Rano, funded
by TRAID. |
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Azafady
now runs 20 village pharmacies and has installed over
30 wells, servicing with clean water and access to medicine
over 20,000 people mainly in the Rural Commune of Mahatalaky. |
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We have
a new Health and Sanitation co-ordinator, Djahanguir
Mazars, who has a background in water engineering. The
construction team continues to provide sanitation infrastructure,
wells, village pharmacies and latrines, to some 18 villages,
most of which are sited a considerable distance from
the nearest road and health point. In addition to this
funding for a mobile doctor has been received from
a number of trusts, and the search is underway
for the best local candidate. |
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It is not
uncommon for the average Antanosy village to be threatened
with a variety of diseases. These are prone to manifest
themselves in the most fragile of the population, the
eldest and the youngest. Malaria and diarrhoea-related
diseases are the most common and in recent years epidemics
of cholera have besieged the island.
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Here are some of the main factors that contribute to
the spread of sickness: Villagers have a tendency to
bathe, collect drinking water and launder clothes in
the same area of a river. Open defecation is also a
common choice of disposing of human waste. The combination
of these 2 traditions can be lethal and lead to the
contamination of water sources and thus the health of
the entire village. The time of highest risk is during
cyclone season which can cause excessive flooding. |
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Malnourishment
is a factor of everyday life and it severely weakens
a persons ability to fight disease; i.e. cholera has
the chance to spread and kill faster than it would in
healthier individuals.
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The remoteness
and inaccessibility of these villages prevents the occupants
from being able to access important health care, advice
and treatment on a daily basis. Often villagers will
die of a disease that could have been easily treated
if the right medicine was available and the symptoms
were noticed at an earlier stage. |
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In order
to combat the problem of contaminated water it is clear
that improved sanitation facilities coupled with a protected
water supply must be implemented. We have managed to
fulfil these needs effectively using hand-dug concrete
wells and concrete sanitation platforms. The village
is involved in all stages of project implementation
and must contribute to the transport of local materials
(sand, rocks, palm), construction (digging holes, building
house) and maintenance and follow-up of the project
(record keeping, training). |
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Azafady is very pleased to have been awarded grants of £25,000 from the Isle of Man Overseas Aid Commission and £18,474 from TRAID towards Project Salama. This project integrates health education work, the activities of our mobile doctor and the builing of health and sanitation infrastructure. |
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Downloads: |
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