Please download our third quarter report here:
http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/f/Update2008Quarter3.pdf
To our supporters:
This quarter marks the 30th anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration — a compact signed by world leaders in 1978 to bring “health for all” by the year 2000. Alma Ata brought inspiration to many, even if its target was not achieved. But over the past three decades, the definition of “primary healthcare” has narrowed. Today, primary care in poor countries is often said to be a “minimum package” of health services, such as vaccines or simple treatments. Certainly, these basic ingredients are essential. But when someone involved in an accident goes to a primary care clinic operated under this philosophy, they are turned away, because care is defined so narrowly that laceration repair is no longer considered an essential health service.
We can do better. (Yes, we can.)
At Nyaya Health, the community of Achham in Far Western Nepal has been teaching us that narrow perspectives often undermine the quest of communities to attain truly enjoyable livelihoods free of disease and disability. We’ve been taught that reaching across disciplines as varied as architecture and epidemiology can help us to develop creative initiatives to integrate traditional public health measures, novel poverty-relief programs, and local capacity-building for long-term health.
We have been lucky to achieve so much success in preventing and treating disease in Achham. Our latest health indicators and medical outcomes show that we’ve become a strong resource for a population previously denied service. But our work requires that we continue to develop systems to maintain community accountability and challenge poverty.
This quarter, we have initiated a hospital-building project to address Achham’s highest-priority needs, as determined by members of the community and as witnessed in our own clinic (http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/SurgicalServices). As always, we are working with the local government to ensure the long-term success of our operations; this includes the gradual integration of our training and service work into a new federal healthcare system, which is currently non-existent in the region. We hope you will join us in continuing our venture to expand a transparent, community-based, comprehensive model of healthcare delivery. Read our third quarter report here:
http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/f/Update2008Quarter3.pdf
Sincerely,
The Nyaya Health Team
Addressing malnutrition requires a community-based team approach
