By Alisha Giri | Program Coordinator
One Heart World-Wide was one of the first organizations on the ground after the earthquake struck Nepal last year on April 25th, 2015. The devastation was immediate and far-reaching. More than 2 million people lost their homes, more than 17,000 people suffered injuries, and more than 8,700 died. One year later, we are continuing our work on earthquake recovery, with the aim of re-establishing a healthcare infrastructure that is stronger, more efficient, and addresses the needs of the existing communities.
One of our post-earthquake projects includes building maternity waiting homes in the district of Dhading and Sindhupalchok, two of the districts that were most affected and sustained approximately 90% of damages to their health facilities. Maternity waiting homes are residential facilities located near a qualified medical facility.
Our goal in providing accommodation through these maternity-waiting homes near the two referral hospitals with essential obstetric facilities, is to increase the willingness of a pregnant women to travel to the hospital, knowing she can wait in a clean and safe environment before giving birth. Having a maternity waiting home near the hospitals increases the rate of utilization of maternity services including antenatal, prenatal, intra-natal, and postnatal care. Attending the hospital for delivery aids in decreasing overall maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in the district by reducing complications during pregnancy, and before and during childbirth such as obstructed labor, ruptured uterus, fistulas, and stillbirth.
Currently, we have initiated construction of both of these waiting homes. We have met with the Health Committee members of each respective district, and identified and completed an assessment of the land upon which the homes will be built. We have also identified a local vendor for the supply of raw materials, and recruited local laborers to start work for the plinth level.
“I have received this award due to my hard work and my responsibility towards the community providing health services on time. After earthquake we had nothing to continue the health services because the health post building was totally damaged and I wanted to resume all the services from the health post as soon as possible. I quickly contacted the District Health Office Sindhupalchok and on their suggestion I coordinated with One Heart World Wide to help us continue with the maternity services from the health post, as we didn’t have building and equipment. I couldn’t imagine the way One Heart World-Wide responded to our request, as they were so quick in setting up the delivery tent, installing solar suitcase and supplied all essential equipment’s for the tent. We conducted around 7-10 deliveries in first two months after earthquake in the tent provided by One Heart World Wide. This would have not been possible if they had not supported us. Aftermath of earthquake on 25th April, One Heart World Wide support has played significant role for me to achieve this Earthquake Hero 2015 award.” ~ Umesh Chaudhary, Head of Health Post, Bhimtar HP, Sindhupalchok
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By Alisha Giri | Program Coordinator
By Moumita Chakraborty | Development and Communications Coordinator
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