World Health Day Challenge 2011

Leticia Mussa with one-week old baby she delivered

CPAR's 6th Annual World Health Day Challenge is coming up next week on Thursday, April 7th -- World Health Day!  We invite health professionials and other interested people to donate a portion or all of their day's income to support safe motherhood in rural communities in Bunda District.  Please  Donate a Day for Africa!   


We will be collaborating with Bunda District Health Department to provide training for Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) like Leticia Mussa (check her out on You Tube) .  Their key role will be stressed as one of identifying pregnant women in their communities, providing them with education and information, helping them prepare Birth Plans, encouraging them to deliver at the local health facility and assisting them with a strategy to get to the local health facility.  The role of men will be strongly stressed.

Very importantly, TBAs will be trained to identify complicated pregnancies for early referral to Bunda District Hospital, and they will learn about PMTCT (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV) and how to protect themselves.  We will provide TBAs with safe delivery kits equipped with sterile gloves, aprons, plastic sheeting, razor blades, soap, string to tie the cord, etc.  Although the jury is still out in Tanzania on the official role of TBAs in "safe motherhood", the fact remains that over 60 per cent of rural women give birth at home.  Our goal is to make sure that this happens safely.

World Water Day 2011

Meet Sikitu Joseph (left, in yellow), Farmer Field School (FFS) Facilitator and member of Haruzale Water Committee, the body responsible for managing and maintaining Haruzale's Community Borehole (deep well) established by CPAR last November.  We visited Haruzale last week and talked to Sikitu about the impact the borehole has had on her day-to-day life.

Sikitu used to walk 5 km to Lake Victoria twice a day -- at 6:00 a.m. and again after lunch -- to fetch a bucket of green, slimy, contaminated lake water for her family's needs.  Each trip would take from 2 to 3 hours.  Sometimes she would go by bike and carry 2 buckets at a time. 

Now with the borehole nearby, Sikitu spends more time focusing on her farm and conducting small business activities to generate cash -- she sells mandazis (donuts) and eggs and uses the money for her kids' school needs and household items like kerosene and cooking oil.  But the big thing for Sikitu is her time and effort saved -- spending hours every day carrying heavy loads of muddy water is unpleasant and exhausting.

Crucial to the long life and success of the borehole is the management style of the water committee -- 3 women and 3 men selected by the village government.  In Haruzale, each of the 200 households served by the borehole contributed about 70 cents towards opening a bank account for the borehole.  Now each household is required to pay the equivalent of 35 cents every month.  This money is deposited in the borehole bank account and will be used to service and, when necessary, repair the borehole and the pump.  Each household is also required to contribute about 15 cents every month to pay for the security guard appointed by the water committee to watch over the borehole.  To save wear and tear on the pump, the operating hours are from 7am to 12 noon, and again from 2pm to 6pm daily.  The security guard makes sure the timetable is followed.  Sikitu and the other water committee members are confident that their borehole is going to be in operation for a very long time.