Saving lives, one birth at a time

This has been a very productive year for our Nepal team. This year alone we have been able to increase health facility deliveries from 1% to 10% and 25% to 48% in Dolpa and Baglung (the two districts in which we are currently working), respectively. Women receiving appropriate prenatal care have increased from 0% to 21% in Dolpa and 40% to 82% in Baglung. Additionally, skilled provider attendance at deliveries had increased from 3% to 10% and 20% to 70% in Dolpa and Baglung, respectively. Five health posts have been renovated and equipped with equipment and supplies to meet standards to be certified as birthing centers. Since opening these birthing centers, over 600 deliveries have taken place within their walls. Nine birthing centers now have solar panels installed to provide power for lights and medical equipment, where electricity is otherwise unreliable or unavailable. One Heart sponsored the training of six skilled birthing attendants. We also trained fourteen master trainers, 293 front-line health workers and 557 Female Community Health Volunteers. Your support, in conjunction with our dedicated Nepal staff and volunteers, made it possible for us to serve a population of 269,000 with 5,000 estimated pregnancies annually.

In addition to this year’s many accomplishments, One Heart is pleased to announce that we have been able to transition to a fully Nepali staff within our Nepal program. One Heart World-Wide has always held the belief that our programs should empower local communities, which allows for greater long-term program sustainability. Mr. Binay Kumar Basyal is our new Country Representative for Nepal. With an educational background in Business Administration and Rural Development and over ten years in leadership roles in the fields of health, development, and beyond, both at home in Nepal and abroad, Binay brings a strong skill set to the One Heart Nepal program.

All of us at One Heart thank you for your continued support! With your help we can continue to save lives, one birth at a time.

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It was a busy summer for the One Heart Nepal Team. Over the past few months we have held numerous trainings, and have made headway on some new and exciting projects!

So far in Dolpa district, we have trained a total of 293 community outreach providers (health workers and community health volunteers). Our three newly trained skilled birth attendant have been stationed at key health posts across the district. A pilot of our MedicMobile project, using mobile phones and SMS to deliver safe motherhood messages and check-up reminders to remote communities, is now underway. Sanitation has improved greatly with the installation of running water at the Dunai birthing center, the first in a circuit of 5 birthing centers that we hope to have completed by the end of our project. To date, we have had 117 births at the Dunai birthing center since its opening in November of 2011. We are very pleased to announce that our second birthing center, located in Dho Tarap, was inaugurated last month! Many members of the local community, including local Rinpoches and Lamas (religious leaders), local Amchis (doctors), and representatives of other NGOs working in Upper Dolpa attended the ribbon cutting ceremony. There was much excitement surrounding the opening of the birthing center and One Heart felt very welcomed by the local community.

On the way to Dho Tarap, our team visited potential sites for the next birthing center we plan to open in the very north of the district, in Saldang.  Our field team met with the local people to discuss what they saw to be the major issues regarding their access to maternal and infant health services as well as the challenges they faced. After visiting with the communities and touring the sites discussed for the new clinic and satellite clinics, the team felt very confident in ability to move forward as planned. The proposed sites will be perfect for our needs and those of the community.  

A large festival also took place last month – the Shey Gompa Festival (a religious festival occurring once every 12 years). It was a treat for One Heart to participate in the festival this year. In conjunction with various organizations, we organized a medical camp at the festival, during which we were able to serve more than 1,100 patients. The team also performed a role-play on maternal and neonatal life-saving skills in the local language and gave a short presentation on how to solve existing maternal and neonatal health issues and major challenges to accessing health care in Upper Dolpa. There was a huge turnout at the festival and everyone seemed to enjoy our programs. It was also a great learning opportunity for our team, as we were able to meet with the local people to find out which issues were most important to them.  Unfortunately, we also learned that late in the summer there had been an outbreak of measles, which took the lives of 30 children who were unable to get treatment in time. OHW and the communities vowed to work together to face challenges to health care, such as this type of epidemic and the lack of access to preventative care that people in Upper Dolpa face.

It was a busy summer, but everyone involved in the project is excited about moving forward and what is to come next. None of it would be possible without your support, and so from the entire One Heart team, I would like to offer you all our most sincere thanks! 

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