Infectious Disease Monitoring in Rural Pakistan

As 2010 comes to a close, we review our success and are reminded of how incredibly grateful we are for your support and interest in UM Healthcare Trust.  This year, we've already raised more than $50,000 in support of the Trust's work to help Pakistan’s underserved regain their health and control over their lives, through patient capital and social entrepreneurship.  For this, we can all be proud.

Since the flood disaster in August, UM Healthcare Trust has partnered with CDRS Pakistan and SRSP to conduct medical camps in local villages that were badly affected by the floods.  In addition to the Trust’s regular clinic operations, our combined teams of doctors, nurses, social workers, clerks, and volunteers have set up daily camps in more than 100 villages around Charsadda, Nowshera, and Mardan Districts.

The camps are set up in schools, non-operational local clinics, tents, churches, and any buildings that can accommodate our group for the day.  When we arrive at the villages our presence is often announced via loudspeaker and villagers have often helped our teams to locate other villages in need.  In many of our relief camps, we have found that we are the first organization to have reached the community and have been welcomed warmly.  Our field staff check and treat any ailments of any person that comes to the camp, and provide antibiotics, vaccines and prophylactic doses of anti-malarial drugs that have been donated to the Trust.  In addition, we have other teams of volunteers to distribute clean water, food packages, infant formula, bedding, tents, and gas cylinders.

 You can watch a video of our operations here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY4qEu3jeis&feature=player_embedded

We have been able to treat a total of 13,400 patients between August and December, 2010 in field medical camps; 7% in the Mardan District, 10% in the Nowshera District, and 84% in the Charsadda District.  In addition to these patients,  6,070 (64% adults and 36% children) were seen at our regular UM Healthcare Trust clinic in Mardan;  making a total of 19,450 patients seen between August and December, 2010.

These treatments have been made possible with support from CDRS, DRIP, DMC, Edhi Foundation and through generous donations by our individual donors.

In addition to medical services and emergency supplies, UM Healthcare and our partners have been extending to patients with culturally appropriate education on health related issues, counseling for emotional distress, and on strategies to deal with their current conditions, using local language and customs.  Our relief teams are one of the best suited organizations to help as our doctors have experience working with same or similar rural issues every day.

For our work during the flood crisis, UM Healthcare Trust has been featured in numerous news programs, the most prominent of them include BBC Radio Scotland, CNN and Google’s Official Blog.
Find out more on our website: http://umtrust.org/news/in-the-press/

Thank you so much for your support and your commitment to UM Healthcare Trust.

With all best wishes for happy, healthy, and productive New Year,

The UM Healthcare Trust team.