As ADEPT begins winding down operations in Quake affected Kashmir, there is still a strong demand from both the community and the district administration for ADEPT to continue its work. In order to create a lasting primary healthcare system in the remote villages that do not have healthcare facilities, ADEPT has developed the Social Health Attendant system. The focus of the system is on building capacity of affected villagers to deal with their healthcare concerns by creating Social Health Attendants who will be put into place by the end of July 2006. An SHAs is a Dai (unqualified, untrained traditional midwife who currently tends to women in the quake affected remote villages) who have been identified as providing dedicated yeoman service in quake affected villages that have difficulty accessing existing health providers in the region, who is trained to provide limited basic healthcare services to the villagers. So far 33 dais have been identied (18 in district Uri-Baramullah and 15 in district Kupwara). Each SHA will cover 4 to 5 villages thus providing their services to around 116 remote villages.
The SHAs are being trained in reproductive care, psychological first aid, hygiene and sanitation, prevention of infection, vital sign monitoring, family planning, management of simple wounds and injuries, aseptic child-birth, maternal and infant care, basic primary care of the 10 most common illnesses, and early referral of problem pregnancies. Pre and Post training tests will ascertain that the trainees have acquired the necesary skills. The SHAs will also be trained to work with existing PHCs and other heathcare providers. The trained SHAs will accompany the medical team in its last tour of duty training 4 to 5 women and men in each village in SHA skills. These enabled women will thus form a band of capable healthworkers who can carry on limited primary healthcare services in these remote villages.
Academy for Disaster Management Education
Planing & Training
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Website: www.adeptasia.org