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Afghanistan: the 39th Salamati just out

The 39th issue of Salamati on Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) has just been released on the 18th of February 2009. 25.000 copies were published, in Dari/Pashto version and 1.000 other in English. This issue will teach Community Health Workers and health facilities staff standard ways of detection, diagnosis, and referral. In addition, CHW experiences will help readers to educate families in safe home management of ARI. The issue is sent through a new distribution procedure, built on requests from the leading actors in the health system. A new comprehensive set of guidelines of Salamati distribution has been sent to all Community Based Health Care (CBHC) officers within the different Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS) implementers. The guidelines contain ample information on Salamati’s aims and its distribution mechanism. Meanwhile, the team has updated the distribution list, making sure that each health post and health facility receives its designated number of copies which are attributed.

The 39th Salamati soon on the website consult this article only

AMI team against cholera outbreak

A cholera outbreak affecting at least 15 provinces of Afghanistan since 4th October has hit the three provinces supported by Aide Medicale Internationale (Kunar, Laghman and Samangan).

A first outbreak was detected in the Marawara district of Kunar with 15 cases, according to AMI medical team. Mobile teams quickly reacted and controlled the outbreak. In Laghman, around 150 cases cholera cases were reported in the Farashgan area. The disease subsequently appeared in other areas, including Mehterlam, the capital of Laghman province. The wave harshly hit Samangan, with more than 2,000 people affected. Most cases in Samangan province were detected and treated in provincial capital Ayback Hospital, but many other fcuses appeared in more peripheral zones thereafter. AMI dispended health education sessions, purification of water sources and drug supplies.

AMI teams have made all efforts to control it. In the three provinces, mobile teams went to the field as soon as they were informed about the presence of suspect cases in an area. They controlled the outbreak with multiple actions. First, the teams delivered messages to the community, such as regularly washing hands, boiling or chlorinating water, eating freshly cooked food, and not defecating near water sources. Water reservoirs were then chlorinated, and mobile clinics were set up in schools and other key spots in the community.

The cholera outbreak has affected thousands of people, according to the Afghan Ministry of Public Health and AMI, causing more than 20 deaths. However rare and occurrence, cholera epidemics have hit some Afghan provinces in the past. This year, the cholera outbreak has been particularly wide. To blame are natural factors such as the dry weather (especially this year), lack of personal hygiene behaviors and increasing communication means.

The cholera outbreak has been controlled in Kunar, while the situation is in the process of resolution in Laghman and Samangan. consult this article only

Special Birth Spacing issue of Salamati magazine released in Afghanistan

The 38th issue of the Salamati Magazine, on Birth Spacing, was released in Kabul on September 28th, and is currently being distributed all over Afghanistan. Developed by Aide Medicale Internationale, the quarterly publication designed for volunteer Community Health Workers and health professionals should contribute to the changing beliefs and misconceptions still firmly gripped on the country’s culture.

Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Reducing this catastrophic rate has become the Afghan Ministry of Public Health’s top priority. The population’s attitude towards birth spacing is changing. Effective communication on the everyday benefits of birth spacing, promotional campaigns and a growing disbelief in certain unhealthy habits are leading Afghan families to use birth spacing methods to regulate the frequency of births.

Beyond multiple births’ disastrous consequences on mothers’ health, early pregnancies, and a lack of support from husbands and other community members are but a few of the country’s reproductive health problems.

Salamati Magazine’s objective is to teach community health workers to educate their people into adopting the right health and hygiene reflexes. By tackling the prickly subject of the link of birth control and Islam, Salamati also gives community health workers the tools to convince their people in the best way. consult this article only

Afghanistan - Biochemical quality controls: Tight, confident and accurate diagnoses

AMI laboratory team has started biochemical quality control in Maiwand, Ali Abad (Kabul), Laghman, Kunar and Samangan hospitals.

They believe that with this program, lab technicians are able to ensure correct diagnoses themselves.

Quality control consists in testing one reference sample, whose biochemical values are known, and to compare the lab’s value with the expected value.

The program was started after offering primarily quality control training for lab technicians by two experts from “Biochemists Without Borders” in 2006 in Kabul. AMI’s lab team later trained lab technicians in provinces. Now the team guesses that biochemical quality control offers “confident and more precise diagnoses”, as required in “standard services”.

According to Maiwand hospital lab technician Mohammad Anwar, they follow the process daily or weekly, depending on biochemical parameters. He is happy with “more logical and standard services”. He remembers that in wartime, biochemical analyses were scarcely done. He added: “We were not sure of what we did and we were not answering people’s demands for: accurate diagnoses”.

More information about AMI’s mission in Afghanistan

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Distributing Salamati magazine

The Afghan health magazine Salamati, published by Aide Médicale Internationale, changed its focus in 2007 to address more specifically the nearly 20.000 Afghan community health workers. The previous target readership, clinic staff, was however not abandoned. The magazine is now sidelined by a technical supplement designed for the needs of doctors, nurses and midwives.

The cartoon was conceived to explain Salamati magazine’s distribution process in the entire country. Bilingual in Dari Pashto, the two official languages of Afghanistan, the cartoon goes over the allocation to community health workers, with the supplement for health facility staff. The narrator character also presents a pull-out poster which can be used to deliver complementary messages during health education sessions.

Graphic design: Bertrand Raes, http://www.raesgraph.fr/
Download the cartoon:

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