Commitment for Malaria Patients and Undernourished Children

Esther Suchanek is working as a project assistant for Malteser International and currently writes a travel diary from the disaster region.

After visiting the project close to Sittwe, I went further north to Maungdaw, where Malteser International is supporting the people in very remote areas. During a trip, I had the opportunity to see some of the activities in the projects in person.

After a long journey, we arrive in Kha Moung Zeik. During the rainy season, it is especially hard to get here – since most of the "roads" are not passable by car, we are travelling by boat. Along the river, you can see the every day life of the people. In this part of Myanmar, very close to the border with Bangladesh, almost 95 percent of population are Muslims. They often don’t have good access to healthcare and education. Since 2004, Malteser International has been implementing a broad programme to improve the health situation of these people.

In Kha Moung Zeik, we visit a school, where Malteser International has constructed two rain water harvesting tanks, six latrines and two hand water pumps. The principal of the school tells us that before they had the water tanks, drinking water had to be supplied by villagers and that it was very difficult to have water in the dry season. Now, the students have clean water all year long. The hand water pumps were constructed to wash the hands after using the latrines. For the children, our visit is a very welcome change and distraction during the school day. Curiously, they look out of the classrooms. One teacher even interrupts his lesson to come outside with his pupils and to show us one of the rain water harvesting tanks and how they make use of it.

Our next stop is a "Mother Child center" (MCC) close to the school. Here, undernourished children between two and three years get one meal per day on six days of the week. The room is provided for free by a villager and two kindergarten teachers cook for the children. As "payment", they can also eat here with two of their children. Malteser International provides the money for the food and makes sure that the little ones and their families find their way to one of the 26 MCCs operated by Malteser International.

Once a month, Malteser International organizes growth monitoring sessions in the villages. If the children do not weigh enough for their height, staff members of Malteser International talk to the parents and offer them to send their child to a MCC. Surprisingly, not all parents agree to do so, because some mothers do not have time to accompany their child, others cannot or do not want to leave the house to go to a MCC.

We arrive just in time for lunch, about 25 children sit on the floor and eagerly spoon up their bowls. On the other side, some mothers and grandmothers are sitting around. Today, in addition to the two kindergarten teachers, a health educator from Malteser International came to talk to the women about balanced nutrition and its importance. The women listen attentively and we hope that they have the financial means to actually follow the advice's. But there is reason to be confident, because many of the little ones look already better than they looked when they came here for the first time. We say good-bye to the group and start our way home.

The pupils in Kha Moung Zeik are happy with their new rain water harvesting tank providing safe drinking water the whole year long. The outpatient department (small health center) and the attached malaria-unit operated by Malteser International are situated right next to the team compound. So our way leads right through the "waiting room" (on here, this means the whole area around the outpatient department) and pass the open windows of the treating room. The malaria unit is very busy, the patients have to be registered, then a drop of blood is taken which is then examined under a microscope by a laboratory technician. If the test is positive, the patients receive medicines or, in severe cases, are referred to a health center that is located at about six hours walking distance.

If the test is negative but if they still have pain, the patients go right next door to consult the doctor of Malteser International. Of the 80 patients tested so far today, the malaria test was positive in 50 percent of the cases. Malaria is a big risk factor in this region and the center of Malteser International is the only facility in this remote area where it is screened and where medicines are subscribed and handed out. The doctor next door mainly treats diarrhoeas and respiratory infections. He and one nurse work like on the assembly line: Every day, about 100 patients come to see them – there is no time for long breaks.

It’s been a long day, even for us, who were only visiting the projects. The staff members of Malteser International who work here day by day, trying to improve the situation of the people, are really admirable.

They don’t "just" do their job; you can see that they really like what they are doing and that they are committed to the people for whom they work. This evening they sit outside on the team compound and I can hear laughter and giggling. Until ten o’clock, when the generator is turned off and the only thing I hear are the sounds of the amazingly beautiful and lively nature in this remote region of Myanmar.

Esther Suchanek