Improving children's health in villages in Darfur

One of the principal activities to have taken place since the last report is the procurement of blankets and mosquito nets by the Communities Marketing Network - these will be distributed to the poorest families in the new villages - Tikailat, Abu Nala and Kheirban B - in the next few weeks. The provision of blankets and moquito nets has proven to have a very significant impact on improving the health of children. Most of the poorest families do not own any blankets and at night they keep the fire in the hut alight to provide warmth for the children. This means that the children are sleeping in a very smokey atmosphere and this contributes markedly to the high incidence of chest infections and eye problems amongst the children in the villages. With the provision of blankets by KIDS FOR KIDS families no longer need to keep the fire alight at night which is also a benefit for the environment as families need to collect less firewood. One of the unexpected outcomes of the provision of blankets has been a marked increase in school attendance by the children as illness with respiratory problems has been reduced - this is clearly a huge benefit for the future of the children enabling them to obtain education which can help them towards a better future. The provision of the mosquito nets significantly reduces the incidence of malaria which is a major cause of death amongst children.

Another activity which KIDS FOR KIDS is promoting to improve the health of children is the provision of jumpers for toddlers - by ensuring that children are kept warm this again helps to reduce illness from respiratory infections. The Women's Development Network is currently investigating the procurement of the jumpers. In order to make the activity sustainable KIDS FOR KIDS will establish Mothers' Knitting Circles to teach mothers to knit so that they are able to make jumpers for their older children and also possibly for sale to the wealthier families in the village. The Women's Development Network is preparing a proposal detailing how the proposed Knitting Circles will work covering such issues as finding teachers, supplies of wool, when and where the Circles would meet, etc.

Re the progress of the overall KIDS FOR KIDS programme, we are proposing to provide support to an additional 5 villages during 2011/2012 and we have asked our Project staff, in consultation with the Communities' Networks, to identify suitable villages. 

Activities are progressing well in the three new villages in which the KIDS FOR KIDS' programme has been launched in the latter part of 2010. The villages have appointed their Village Development Committees and Animal Loan Committees and these committees are currently receiving training in management techniques as they will be responsible for running the various activities in the villages. Most importantly for the health of the children each village community has identified two of its community members to be trained as first aid workers and two women to be trained as village midwives. The first aid workers are particularly important for improving the health of children as they are heavily involved in health education in the villages and a very important part of this is training mothers in improved nutrition for their children thereby helping to give them a better start in life. The first aid workers also provide training in oral rehydration therapy and this is vital in saving the lives of children suffering from diarrhoea. Our Programme Manager is currently making arrangements for the training of the first aid workers which will take place in the next few weeks.

The communities have also selected the poorest households who will receive goat and donkey loans and these families are receiving training in improved animal husbandry before being assisted to go to the local market to purchase their animals. Once the families have their goats there will be milk available for the children which will have a major impact on the ability of the families to provide better nourishment for their malnourished children. The goats' milk provides many minerals and vitamins essential for the growth of the children. In time the goats will have kids and this will provide the families with a potential source of income from the sale of kids which will enable them to buy medicines if their children fall sick.

Once the purchase of the livestock has been successfully completed we will turn our attention to the purchase of blankets and mosquito nets for the poorest households. This is an activity which has a major impact on the health of the children through reducing the incidence of malaria which is a major killer of children and providing the children with warmth at night which significantly reduces the prevalence of respiratory infections amongst the children. In appreciation of the great benefits to the health of children in providing them with warmth during the surprisingly cold winter, KIDS FOR KIDS is launching a new activity to provide jumpers for toddlers in the poorest families. We are also planning to establish Mothers' Knitting Circles to teach them to knit so that they can make jumpers for their older children and also for sale to richer families in the village. This is all part of our emphasis on ensuring that all the activities which we support are sustainable.