AIL’s multi faceted health program continues in rural and deprived urban areas of Afghanistan where often the AIL clinic or satellite Community Health Worker (CHW) post is the only available medical care for many miles.
AIL health program provides comprehensive health care including treatment such as routine care, first aid and nutrition programs, reproductive health care as well as preventive care including vaccinations and education. So far in 2013, AIL has treated an average of over 16,000 patients per month at 4 fixed clinics, mobile clinics and through its CHW program. In the same time period, AIL has provided health education to over 9,700 per month through its clinics, CHWs and workshop offerings.
The combination of health care treatment and health education has proved to be highly effective in breaking the cycle of ill health which plagues many families in the region. As a patient waits for care, often with other family members they are given health education. The topics covered may not relate to the medical issue they are seeking treatment for but could be about proper nutrition, the value of vaccination, clean water and sanitation issues. People or eager for knowledge as they want to be healthy and care for their children in the best way they can.
A participant in reproductive health workshop said, “My daughter-in-law died in her first child delivery and the reason she died is because of my carelessness because I didn’t allow her delivery at the hospital and in this area there weren’t any midwives. I tried to help her during her delivery. I lost my daughter in law because I didn’t have experience and the blood group of my daughter in law was negative and it caused problems. I wish that I had joined this workshop one year before so I could have helped my daughter in law.”
Thank you for your interest and support for AIL’s health program. We have attached out year end newsletter and we hope you will take a look.
Great News: This project is part of the Safer World Fund Matching Campaign, meaning that all donations to this project will be matched at 50%, up to a maximum of $2,000. We hope that you will help us take advantage of this great opportunity!
Dear GlobalGiving Donors,
Thank you so much for supporting the Afghan Institute of Learning’s (AIL) various projects on GlobalGiving. Over the years, the Global Giving donors have become invaluable to AIL. Through your generous support, AIL has been able to provide Afghans with education, health care, training and more.
It is your continued support that is now allowing AIL to evolve along with the young people of Afghanistan. We’d like to share with you the story of how one young woman’s life has been changed thanks to one of AIL’s programs:
I am a 19-year-old woman with two children. I had always wanted to go to school and learn to read, but there was not a school close to my home. It was not safe for me to try and travel to another village to go to school, but I always told myself that if I could go to school, I would be able to get a job and reach my goals.
It was painful to me when my brother learned to read and write, but I couldn’t. One day I watched some women and children who were going somewhere. When I saw that one of them was a woman who had an 8-year-old girl with her, I stopped her and said “Excuse me. Where are you going?” She answered, “A learning center has been established for illiterate women and their children recently. I am going to register myself and my children.”
When I heard this, I was so happy and I said to her, “Please wait a minute. I want to go with you and start to take classes too.” I joined them on their way to the learning center. When we arrived, I was so excited because I saw a lot of women there who had been learning.
Now, I can read and write and I can say proudly that I am literate. I have also learned to be healthy and to be a leader. I am reaching out and touching my wishes and goals. I thank AIL for this opportunity to reach my goals.
Thank you for the support that you give to AIL. We are so grateful to all of our supporters for their continued support of our projects on GlobalGiving. Thank you!
AIL continues to provide much needed healthcare and health education to thousands of needy Afghans who have few if any other medical options. Basic medical care at the early stages of a problem makes all the difference and a small amount of health education creates huge change in behavior and health situations. The latter is evidenced by AIL’s innovative Expectant Mother Health Program where women receive information on safe pregnancy and childbirth in an afternoon session. 100% of those pregnant women who attended this workshop went on to choose to have their babies at a clinic in safe circumstances going against the cultural norm of home delivery without help.
During the course of a year, month to month patient numbers can vary due to security, weather or transport issues. In the last few months AIL treated an average of over 10,000 patients per month at its 4 fixed clinics, mobile clinics and through its Community Health Worker (CHWs) program. In the same time period, AIL has given health education to over 16,000 per month through its clinics and CHWs and workshop offerings. AIL provides comprehensive health care including routine care, first aid, nutrition programs, reproductive health care and vaccinations. The nutrition program in the last four months assessed 3,609 children for nutritional status and treated 503 for malnutrition. This is one woman’s story:
My name is BiBi Gul. I have 3 children who are 1, 2 and 3 years old. They were so weak. I was very hopeless and fed up with life. One day my husband said there was a clinic in Shaikhan and to go and visit them; it has very kind and professional doctors. The clinic is so far from us; it is about 2 hours away from my house to the clinic. I came and visited the doctors and midwife and told them about my problem. After visiting they told me that your children are affected by malnutrition. The reason was that I didn’t follow child spacing and my breast feeding was not sufficient for my babies, so they got malnutrition. The doctor referred my children to the nutrition section. My children were under treatment, every week and they have been checked and monitored regularly and received nutritious food and put on weight. After 3 month, two of them were able to walk. Now I am so happy, and, after 3 years child spacing, I now have a new born child who is normal and well nourished. I am thankful from the doctors. Now lots of people visit this clinic from our area.”
Thank you for your interest and support.
Great News: This project has been selected to be part of the Safer World Fund Matching Campaign, meaning that all donations to this project will be matched at 50%, up to a maximum of $2,000. We hope that you will help us take advantage of this great opportunity!
So many wonderful things have happened for the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in the last few weeks, and we’re very excited to share a few of them with you.
First, on Tuesday the Executive Director of AIL, Sakena Yacoobi received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Princeton University. The official citation reads:
With a profound reverence for the well-being of others, this visionary leader devotes her life to the empowerment of poor Afghan women and children. With an unwavering commitment to social justice, against all odds, and often at great personal risk, she built and sustains an institute that makes healthcare and education possible for the most vulnerable. It owes its success in establishing clinics, teaching children, and training educators and caregivers to the deep and lasting ties she has forged with the people she serves and with global communities of care. After decades of work, she is still creating hope, in her home country and throughout the world.
Additionally, AIL has had two articles posted at The Huffington Post. The first focuses on AIL’s belief that Education Is the Way to a Healthier Country.
The second article details AIL’s Mobile Literacy Program, giving details of how adding texting to a traditional literacy curriculum helped to accelerate the pace of learning.
Finally, tomorrow is a Global Giving Matching Day, and because AIL is a superstar partner, all donations will be matched at 50%! Matching will begin at 9:00 am EST and funds generally run out after just a few hours.To select a project that you might like to donate to, visit AIL’s page on GlobalGiving.
Links:
The Afghan Institute of Learning is very excited to have been given the opportunity to blog at Huffington Post! Our first blog about the Women’s Networking Movement taking place in some of AIL’s centers has been posted. The Women’s Networking Movement is taking place in about 30 of AIL’s centers, schools and clinics. The women coming to these centers are sharing thoughts and ideas in ways that have not been possible until recently.
To learn more about the Women’s Networking Movement, check out our blog at Huffington Post!
Creating Hope International, AIL’s partner, has set up a Facebook page where we will be sharing more news, pictures and information about AIL’s programs. Make sure that you ‘Like’ Creating Hope International on Facebook to get all the latest news!
Links:
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