By The guardian reporter
19th May 2014
100 ambassadors to host awareness workshops
throughout the country
Comprehensive Community Based
Rehabilitation in Tanzania
CCBRT and its partners – Vodacom
Tanzania Foundation and UNFPA have trained 100 community ambassadors from all
over the country in advance of the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula
to be marked on Friday, this week.
A Vodacom statement issued In Dar es Salaam yesterday said the training was tailored to empower the ambassadors to host community workshops on Friday to spread the word: ‘Fistula is Treatable!’
The training is part of a coordinated and united nationwide effort to raise awareness on fistula which will be spearheaded by a flagship event in Temeke District, Dar es Salaam.
This effort follows a strong ongoing partnership between CCBRT and several stakeholders in Tanzania, all of whom are committed to fighting fistula and eradicating this debilitating condition.
“Our network of over 500 ambassadors is already working hard to identify women with obstetric fistula and refer them for treatment. But this month we are asking 100 of our most active ambassadors to go a step further, empowering them to host one of 100 community workshops across the country on the 23rd May,” said Erwin Telemans, CEO, CCBRT.
This is the first time that CCBRT’s awareness raising activities will happen in 25 regions at once, and the intensive awareness activities will give CCBRT’s already hugely successful programme the boost it needs to maintain momentum. Speaking in Dar es Salaam, Telemans said: “The devastating rains and flooding in the last few months have prevented many potential patients from seeking treatment.
We hope that this coordinated awareness activity on the 23rd [Friday] will provide the renewed energy we need to maintain our momentum and to encourage women to seek treatment, and have their dignity restored.”
CCBRT’s network of fistula ambassadors work within their communities to look for, identify and refer patients to CCBRT for treatment. Using the CCBRT Fistula Hotline 0800 752227, free to all Vodacom users, ambassadors call CCBRT, notifying them that they have found a patient with fistula. After confirming the diagnosis, CCBRT transfers the necessary fare for the patient’s journey to hospital using Vodacom M-PESA.
The ambassador then arranges for the patient’s journey to hospital, either at CCBRT Disability Hospital in Dar es Salaam, or one of CCBRT’s partner hospitals in Kigoma, Moshi and Arusha.
After every successful referral the ambassadors are given a 10,000 TZS incentive, as a thank you for sending a woman on the road to recovery. Since the programme started in 2009, CCBRT’s ambassador network has grown to over 500 volunteers, referring nearly 2,000 women for treatment.
“At Vodacom Foundation we are very happy to see how far the project has reached and how much has been achieved in just a few years, and we will not stop to support this project until we have treated all women affected by fistula”, says Yessaya Mwakifulefule, Head of Vodacom Foundation Tanzania.
These community events are vital to ensure that health education is spread widely across the country, especially among the poor and marginalised. "If well planned, awareness raising campaigns continue to help women and girls of Tanzania overcome a debilitating condition that leaves significant numbers suffering in solitude and shame," says Mariam Khan UNFPA Representative.
Khan further emphasizes: "To end fistula we must ensure universal access to reproductive health services, including maternal healthcare and fistula treatment.
We must also follow up with every woman or girl who has had an obstetric fistula and invest in comprehensive interventions to eliminate gender-based social and economic inequities, discourage early marriage and child bearing, promote education and human rights, and foster community participation - including the active involvement of men - in finding solutions."
Do you know somebody with fistula? Would you like to become a CCBRT Ambassador? Call the CCBRT hotline (free to all Vodacom users) to find out more, or to refer a woman for treatment
A Vodacom statement issued In Dar es Salaam yesterday said the training was tailored to empower the ambassadors to host community workshops on Friday to spread the word: ‘Fistula is Treatable!’
The training is part of a coordinated and united nationwide effort to raise awareness on fistula which will be spearheaded by a flagship event in Temeke District, Dar es Salaam.
This effort follows a strong ongoing partnership between CCBRT and several stakeholders in Tanzania, all of whom are committed to fighting fistula and eradicating this debilitating condition.
“Our network of over 500 ambassadors is already working hard to identify women with obstetric fistula and refer them for treatment. But this month we are asking 100 of our most active ambassadors to go a step further, empowering them to host one of 100 community workshops across the country on the 23rd May,” said Erwin Telemans, CEO, CCBRT.
This is the first time that CCBRT’s awareness raising activities will happen in 25 regions at once, and the intensive awareness activities will give CCBRT’s already hugely successful programme the boost it needs to maintain momentum. Speaking in Dar es Salaam, Telemans said: “The devastating rains and flooding in the last few months have prevented many potential patients from seeking treatment.
We hope that this coordinated awareness activity on the 23rd [Friday] will provide the renewed energy we need to maintain our momentum and to encourage women to seek treatment, and have their dignity restored.”
CCBRT’s network of fistula ambassadors work within their communities to look for, identify and refer patients to CCBRT for treatment. Using the CCBRT Fistula Hotline 0800 752227, free to all Vodacom users, ambassadors call CCBRT, notifying them that they have found a patient with fistula. After confirming the diagnosis, CCBRT transfers the necessary fare for the patient’s journey to hospital using Vodacom M-PESA.
The ambassador then arranges for the patient’s journey to hospital, either at CCBRT Disability Hospital in Dar es Salaam, or one of CCBRT’s partner hospitals in Kigoma, Moshi and Arusha.
After every successful referral the ambassadors are given a 10,000 TZS incentive, as a thank you for sending a woman on the road to recovery. Since the programme started in 2009, CCBRT’s ambassador network has grown to over 500 volunteers, referring nearly 2,000 women for treatment.
“At Vodacom Foundation we are very happy to see how far the project has reached and how much has been achieved in just a few years, and we will not stop to support this project until we have treated all women affected by fistula”, says Yessaya Mwakifulefule, Head of Vodacom Foundation Tanzania.
These community events are vital to ensure that health education is spread widely across the country, especially among the poor and marginalised. "If well planned, awareness raising campaigns continue to help women and girls of Tanzania overcome a debilitating condition that leaves significant numbers suffering in solitude and shame," says Mariam Khan UNFPA Representative.
Khan further emphasizes: "To end fistula we must ensure universal access to reproductive health services, including maternal healthcare and fistula treatment.
We must also follow up with every woman or girl who has had an obstetric fistula and invest in comprehensive interventions to eliminate gender-based social and economic inequities, discourage early marriage and child bearing, promote education and human rights, and foster community participation - including the active involvement of men - in finding solutions."
Do you know somebody with fistula? Would you like to become a CCBRT Ambassador? Call the CCBRT hotline (free to all Vodacom users) to find out more, or to refer a woman for treatment
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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