Afghanistan: Aide Médicale Internationale is relocating its expatriate teams while maintaining its programs

Aide Médicale Internationale is committed to ensuring wide-ranging health care programs in Afghanistan, where it has conducted operations since 1980. AMI is temporarily relocating its expatriate teams while maintaining its programs in Afghanistan.

AMI teams are currently conducting wide-ranging health care programs in close collaboration with the Afghan health authorities, in response to the requirements of the Afghan people. This includes:

• restructuring the health care system in the three provinces of Laghman, Kunar and Samangan, within the framework of a primary health care program (Basic Package of Health Services – BPHS) in effect since 2003
• support to the pharmacies and laboratories of Maïwand and Ali Abad University Hospitals in Kabul
• publication and distribution of Salamati Magazine, with a circulation of 26,000 (a health care training magazine designed for community health care workers).

The implementation of the above programs has been accomplished thanks to the involvement of the Afghan personnel of Aide Médicale Internationale. More than 1,500 Afghan health care professionals, health care workers, administrative personnel, etc., as well as a number of management personnel, have ensured these operations.

The constant deterioration of security conditions (as of September 2008, expatriate teams have been regrouped in Kabul) has required new strategies in the organization of operations, based on the increased involvement of Afghan personnel. New long-distance work procedures have been established in order to ensure the follow-up of operations conducted in very remote areas.

Today, recent events in Kabul have led Aide Médicale Internationale to relocate its expatriate teams to a neighboring country. This decision was made with a view to avoiding overexposing our expatriate teams, and does not in any way hinder AMI operations. The wide-ranging needs of the Afghan people require the continuation of AMI health care programs, and recently implemented methods of operation enable our expatriate teams to maintain contact with Afghan teams from their new location. These teams will continue to operate in three sectors: Basic Package of Health Services; support to pharmacies and laboratories; and publication and distribution of the Salamati Magazine. AMI’s new operating procedures will enable local teams to maintain quality programs in response to the requirements of our beneficiaries.

Aide Médicale Internationale would like to reiterate its respect and consideration for the Afghan people, whose needs, especially in the area of health care, require the continued involvement of the international community and the maintenance of its solidarity-based programs. AMI hopes for a rapid return to more peaceful conditions of security, which will enable its expatriate teams to return to Afghan territory as soon as possible.

Dr Philippe Augoyard, Aide Médicale International President

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Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, in a difficult context, our teams develop programs to reinforce the access to quality health care for the endangered populations. In Kabul, they support the development of pharmacies and laboratories of two hospitals. In the provinces of Laghman, Kunar and Samangan, they set up, since 2003, the Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS). They publish the medical magazine Salamati (the journal has a circulation of 26,000 throughout the coutry).

More information about AMI in Afghanistan
AMI team against cholera outbreak
Special Birth Spacing issue of Salamati magazine released in Afghanistan. consult this article only

Myanmar (ex-Burma)

AMI is working in Myanmar with displaced and minority populations: the Karen, the Wa and the Rohingya, from 2001 in the suburbs of Yangon, July 2003 in the Wa autonomous region (Shan State), and August 2004 in the region of Buthidaung (Rakhine State). It is in this context that since last May, our teams implemented an emergency plan after the passage of the cyclone Nargis, to help the Burmese populations of the townships of Dala, Twantay and Seiiki.

More information about AMI in Myanmar

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2008 general meeting: a new board of directors for AMI

At the conclusion of a vote organized during her annual general meeting, on June 21st, Aide Médicale Internationale has a new board of directors. The arrival of new members is the sign of the intensification of this authority. Now chaired by the Dr Philippe Augoyard, Aide Médicale International’s board of directors is composed by thirteen members.

The new board of directors:
Dr Philippe Augoyard, the President (president@amifrance.org) Dr Chantal Aubert-Fourmy, the Vice-President Dr Catherine Bilger, the General-Secretary Eliane Lapeyronnie, the Treasurer

The Administrators: Marie-Amélie Degail, Thomas Guillemin, Guillaume Fest, Benoît Lagente, Geoffroy Malcor, Dr Hélène Tevissen

Substitutes: Dr Omolade Alao, Jean-Michel Pourvis, Laurence Sassone

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Afghanistan : "I am proud to be a Health Messenger"

As he inspects one child in his (village) health post, he tells of his great experience in the past for the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, the World Food Program and for AMI. He passed the CHW (community health worker) training and is now on his second mission for AMI. He has even been selected to coordinate the recent polio National Immunization Day (NID) campaign.

In the past, Mr. Latif had worked on nutrition in Nuristan, and he fondly remembers the benefits felt by the people, who gained healthier reflexes after following his health education sessions.

Very proud, as a human being, to participate in his people’s welfare, he thanks God that he is very healthy himself. "I am proud to be a Health Messenger in my community. I feel great joy in making people around me happier. People can now recognize me. When they see me, they know it’s time for their vaccination!"

In his routine visits to families, he detected 12 cases worthy of referral last month, and he remembers also detecting 4 cases of measles in Shamatu, making him one of the most active and efficient CHWs in Laghman.

Mr. Latif rightly feels that CHWs are the cornerstone of the Afghan health system. He alone supervises 10 health posts, for the benefit of making a difference in a system that is slowly improving every day, thanks to the actions of people like him.

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