Health Assistance Group (HAG)
community health
training
The Need
In
developing nations, primary health care is always one of the
most pressing needs. While Indonesia has made great progress
in this sector in recent decades, nevertheless, much remains to be
done. Health statistics in West Java for many key indicators
significantly lag behind the rest of the island of Java. The
economic
crisis of 1997-98 has had a severe impact throughout Indonesia,
eroding much of the
recent progress and pushing millions back into poverty.
Many common
health problems are caused by ignorance of the importance of
good sanitation and proper nutrition. Tasikmalaya has long been
plagued by highly contagious but preventable diseases such as
dengue fever and tuberculosis. Approximately 30% of
Tasikmalaya’s population lives below the poverty line with
little means of improving their living conditions.
Prevention
When HAG
began in January 2000, we initially focused on helping poor
families with the cost of medicines, diagnostic tests and
surgery. By working with caring and trusted doctors and
pharmacies, we were able to help patients to receive quality
care and medicines at a reasonable cost.
However, we
soon saw the need to tackle some of the root causes of health
problems people face - in short, we chose to devote more of our time to the
prevention of disease. It seems better to be the fence at the top
of the cliff than the ambulance at the bottom. Although we
continue to advocate for the individual patient (linking
patients to caring doctors, affordable medicines and government
services as well as providing health counseling), we are
strengthening our efforts toward prevention. In this way we
believe we are making a more lasting impact.
Services we offer:
·
Training
programmes for existing Community Health Volunteers (kader-kader)
·
Training
programmes for local Community Health Activists
·
Advocacy
for individual patients (linking them with sympathetic doctors
and government health services and offering health counselling
and resources)
·
Helping
with the monthly community mother/baby well-being clinics (posyandu)
· Producing
health resources such as: easy to understand leaflets on many
different health topics (available for reproduction), a health
training manual, a health music CD
'Indonesia Sehat, Vol. 1'
for use in training. Check out
this link to hear some sample clips.
