Mennonite Health Care in DR Congo by Franklin Baer Senior Advisor to I.M.A. for SANRU III Baertracks, Harrisonburg VA

How can we help to improve the health of people in DR Congo?

1)Exclusive Breastfeeding 2)Vaccinate completely 3)Vitamin A twice a year 4)Sleeping under bednets (ITN) 5)Prompt treatment for fevers 6)Oral Rehydration Therapy for diarrhea 7)Washing hands regularly 8)Prenatal preventive treatment of malaria 9)Child Spacing 10) Abstinence and loyalty to avoid AIDS Ten Commandments of Health

The Ten Commandments of Health

Ten Commandments of Health

Mennonite Health Work in DR Congo The blue lines show all the “paved” roads of Congo!

The 306 Health Zones of DR Congo

1)Well-defined geographic areas 2)Strongly decentralized 3)Often co-managed by FBOs Health Zones are...

1) Health Zones are well-defined geographic areas  Population of 150,000  Communities (200)  Health centers (20)  A referral hospital (1)

Health Zones and Health Care in DR Congo

The Health Zone of Nyanga (West Kasai Province)

NYANGA A Typical Health Zone Reference Hospital HZ Office Health Centers

 Defined from the bottom up  Survive by local initiatives and auto-financing  Well positioned as “middle-out” development agents 2) HZs are s trongly decentralized

400 Hospitals in Congo (c. 1973)

: SANRU I begins

3) Health Zones are often co-managed by FBOs   Very good collaboration between the MOH and FBOs  FBOs are not confused with the for- profit private sector   50% of HZs co-managed by FBOs

FBO/NGO Co-managed Health Zones

306 Health Zones

515 Health Zones

Populations Served by Mennonite Co-Managed Health Zones Health ZonePopulation Kajiji150,000 Mukedi160,000 Kalonda-Ouest220,000 Mutena130,000 Ndjokopunda120,000 Nyanga100,000 Banga85, ,000

The I.M.A./ECC Congo Projects ECC-I.M.APMURR/SANTE SANRU III

Project Goals SANRU & PMURR Strengthen and sustain the capacity of health zones to provide and manage priority primary health care interventions.

Four NGO Development Strategies From Getting to the 21st Century by David Korten

1)Exclusive Breastfeeding 2)Vaccinate completely 3)Vitamin A twice a year 4)Sleeping under bednets (ITN) 5)Prompt treatment for fevers 6)Oral Rehydration Therapy for diarrhea 7)Washing hands regularly 8)Prenatal preventive treatment of malaria 9)Child Spacing 10) Abstinence and loyalty to avoid AIDS Priority PHC Interventions

SANRU & PMURR 75 Health Zones

A Typical Health Center in Kalonda Health Zone

Rehabilitation Efforts in Collaboration with SANRU

Well Baby Clinics Vaccinations, Vitamin A, Growth Monitoring, Health Education

Two Questions 1) What assistance can and should N. American Mennonites provide to help with this work? 2) What effective mechanisms could get that assistance where it can do the most good?

Possible Strategies 1)Encourage the new Partnership Council to put health care on its development agenda 2)Strengthen the role of CMCO & CFMC in the co-management of health zones 3)Organize informational mtgs. of N. Amer. partners to discuss how they can help. 4)Compare sustainable systems development strategies with other denominations 5)Coordinate assistance with I.M.A./ECC’s SANRU and PMURR projects

Santé Pour Tous et par Tous