On the Frontier, Modern Health Care Practices Gain Momentum

Photo: IMC

Stethoscope in hand, an IMC medical practitioner administers a health checkup on a small Pakistani boy.

As Pakistan struggles with an unstable political climate and upcoming parliamentary election scheduled for February, the needs of 1.2 million Afghan refugees living in the country are often overshadowed by other domestic and international priorities.

For those living in the refugee camps that dot the barren, underdeveloped Northwest Frontier Province along the border with Afghanistan, access to reliable, sustainable medical care is a constant challenge. But International Medical Corps (IMC) has remained focused on serving this population through innovative programs that offer both medical training and treatment, even in the most volatile environments.

International Medical Corps’ programs in Pakistan date back to its inception in the 1980s, when its founder, Dr. Bob Simon, first began recruiting refugees from remote, medically underserved communities into a full-time medic training facility. Upon completion of their training, these Community Health Workers (CHWs) were able to return to their local communities and treat an estimated 75 to 80 percent of injuries and illnesses.

Photo: IMC

Future CHW’s listen attentively as IMC medical practitioner describes primary care practices.

With these skills, CHWs have not only delivered routine care, but have also successfully managed emergencies where no other medical support was available. Recently, for instance, after a passenger van crashed near one refugee camp, CHWs responded immediately, using their first-aid skills to deliver spontaneous, on-site treatment for the victims. The resourceful CHWs stopped heavy bleeding with improvised cloth bandages and transported victims to the hospital with makeshift sheet-and-stick stretchers. According to doctors at the receiving hospital, the CHWs’ rapid-fire emergency response saved the accident victims from more severe, life-threatening injuries.

Likewise, following an outbreak of dysentery at the camp, one CHW skillfully converted his International Medical Corps training to treat the sick when all local hospitals and clinics were closed on national holiday. With many of the people ill, most of them children, and no medicinal supplier open, the CHW inventively concocted a sugar-salt-and-water solution for re-hydration and a salt-and-flour mixture for continued nutritional support. By combining his IMC medical training with on-the-spot creativity, the CHW not only made it possible for the sick to recover swiftly, but also prevented the spread of a potentially deadly outbreak.

Photo: IMC

An IMC medical practitioner inspects a small Pakistani boy’s outstretched leg for injury.

For the 1.2 million Afghan refugees still living in Pakistan, the IMC-trained CHWs are able to bring primary health care, including basic health services and first aid, immunizations, and hygiene and sanitation practices, to their otherwise isolated communities any time there is a need. International Medical Corps also trains Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in modern delivery and pre- and post-natal care, in an effort to spread safe pregnancy and delivery methods to women and children throughout the country.

With these medical training programs in place, the local refugee populations will continue to be empowered through an increased understanding of the systems, diagnoses, and treatments that contribute to a healthy community. As refugee camps close and these populations migrate home or to other settlement areas, CHWs bring their medical education with them, allowing modern health care practices to reach other underserved people in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.