Sudan – Darfur

International Medical Corps has established 25 primary clinics in Darfur that provide health services, including: reproductive health care, health education, immunisation, child health care, disease surveillance, and referrals of severe cases to hospitals.  Over the past year, more than 475,000 consultations were performed, more than 800 emergency obstetric procedures were performed, and 810 health workers from the Ministry of Health received refresher training and on-the-job supervision.

All International Medical Corps health interventions emphasize education of local communities on topics, including: gender-based violence, sanitation and hygiene promotion, prevention of common infectious diseases, and safe motherhood. We also empower the local people to fill a variety of health care positions within their own communities.

In addition to building and supporting health centres, International Medical Corps conducts home visits in order to serve the needs of as many people as possible. From 2009-2010, community health workers in Wadi Saleh conducted more than 91,000 home visits. During March 2011, International Medical Corps initiated a 10-day rapid mass vaccination campaign against a measles outbreak in Um Dukhun. Because of this effort, 100 percent of children younger than five years old in and around Um Dukhun Town and 100 percent those in Al Salaam Camp were successfully vaccinated against the disease.

In regions plagued by conflict and violence, children and their carers often suffer the most, yet are the least likely to be able to access health care services.  International Medical Corps has made this underserved population a focus of its work in Darfur.  In addition to providing crucial obstetric, antenatal, and postnatal care to mothers, International Medical Corps supports local women through education and training in family planning and prevention of HIV/AIDS.  Care-givers in local communities are able to access immunizations, nutritional screening, and assistance with newborn care so that children’s wellbeing is protected, even in the midst of civil conflict and internal displacement.

International Medical Corps also provides prevention and care for victims of sexual and gender-based violence (GBV).  By educating communities in the region about these issues, we aim to reduce the frequency of such acts in the future.

In addition, our experts recently rehabilitated a hospital in Um Dukhun, West Darfur, making comprehensive Emergency and Obstetric Care (EmOC) services available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to vulnerable populations across a huge area stretching as far as the borders of Chad and Central African Republic. International Medical Corps also distributed midwifery kits, including sterile tools and medicines, which resulted in more than 5,000 safe deliveries.

As violence and instability continue year after year in Darfur, the access that people have to secure and reliable food sources continues to deteriorate. In response, International Medical Corps screens children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers for malnutrition, and provides treatment and nutritional support as needed. International Medical Corps’ community health workers assess and treat patients through home visits as well as in clinics, providing treatment to the most severe cases via Out-Patient Therapeutic Programs (OTP) in West and South Darfur.  By educating families in the prevention of malnutrition, International Medical Corps helps local communities avoid the long term consequences of hunger.

As people flee violence and resettle in camps, fragile host communities often find their resources strained by the population influx. In drought-prone Darfur, this is a significant problem for local water and sanitation systems, which are often in short supply and poor quality. As a result, IDPs and host communities are often at risk of dehydration and illness.

In response, International Medical Corps has worked to expand access to water in the Darfur region through sanitation projects in Mukjar, Garsilla, and Um Dukhun. This includes building waste disposal systems, drainage canals, and safe sanitation facilities as well chlorinating, rehabilitating, and maintaining water points.  International Medical Corps also educates communities on the critical role of hygiene in health, so that families can better protect themselves from disease.

With generous funding from Stichting Vluchteling (SV), International Medical Corps is not only delivering a full range of primary health services to refugee and vulnerable poulations across Darfur, we are also working to strengthen the district health system so that we can evemtually hand over responsibility for these services. International Medical Corps is training local people and partners at every level, from community health workers, to hospital staff, in order to strehgthen the capacity of Darfurians to meet their own health needs.

Our capcity building teams are rehabilitating health centres in the villages of Riyad, Terij, Urokom, Beija, and Mukja. At Mukjar Hospital, one of the largest health facilities in Darfur, International Medical Corps provides laboratory services and trains staff to take on these highly skilled responsibilities.