To decrease the incidence of unnecessary illness, death and disease in Kala camp through educating adults and children about healthy living and disease prevention.
As of December 1, 2009, FORGE is no longer working in Kala Refugee Camp. Thus, FORGE is no longer accepting funds for this project. Knowledge about how to build healthy families, live healthy lives, and treat and avoid illness is among the most highly-sought after information in the refugee camps in which FORGE works. The refugee staff of Kala Health Services takes a holistic approach to health education by teaching about disease and illness by focusing on human anatomy and body systems. From this solid foundation, students learn about how diseases are contracted, spread, and avoided. Serving more than 50 people each month, Kala Health Services has seen marked improvements in the camp’s knowledge about caring for and maintaining their own personal health. This knowledge will be especially important upon return to Congo, where many people have no access to formal health services.
To actively deliver basic health care assistance to under-served residents of the Meheba Refugee Settlement through outreach, preventive health education, and basic diagnostic and curative services, and to encourage and improve the community’s access to the existing clinical infrastructure.
For many members of Meheba's Block C community, the prospect of entering the settlement's health care system is a daunting one. Clinics are either far away or busy, and many individuals are unsure of how to even begin addressing their health needs. Through checkups, basic treatment, and outreach workshops, the FORGE Health Service empowers refugees to take steps towards protecting their own health.
To support individuals affected with AIDS through financial initiatives and through the spread of information about AIDS.
As of December 1, 2009, FORGE is no longer working in Mwange Refugee Camp. Thus, FORGE is no longer accepting funds for this project. Of the 25 million people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, those who have fled war are particularly vulnerable. Yet at the same time, the refugee populations with whom FORGE works are often amongst the first from their countries to have heard of the virus, and are strategically poised to spread life-saving information when they return home. The Mwange FACE AIDS Project takes advantage of this opportunity to spread knowledge and information about AIDS and how it can avoided. It also facilitates support groups in which individuals affected by the epidemic come together to assist each other financially and psychologically. By working to reduce its spread and impact, the FACE AIDS Project empowers refugees to take a stand against this devastating global epidemic.
To improve access to medical care and health education in one of the most populated refugee communities in Meheba Settlement, which has not had a working clinic for more than five years.
Geographically, Block G in Meheba Refugee Settlement finds itself at a drastic disadvantage in terms of receiving health services. Located at the back of the camp and far from any clinics, the refugees of Block G feel isolated and under-served when it comes to medical attention. When FORGE brought this community together to determine what they needed, the answer was clear: an opportunity for healthier lives. After an extensive needs assessment, the refugee project leader explains that, "the findings showed clearly that the population of all ages and classes suffered pain of lack of medical services." Thus they designed the Refugee Health Service project, which will enable patients who can’t make it to the nearest clinic to get basic medicines, allow pregnant women to get delivery assistance by trained midwives, and give children access to the care that they need. This project will help all 2,000 people in this block to live longer and healthier lives.
