Medical Care
"Good health is a crown that only the sick can see." (saying attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib [rahimuhullah])
Providing healthcare can often save a life and surprisingly even a community's future.
Good health is the most powerful tool we have for moving forward with our aspirations. It is much too easy to forget how vital good health is for communities to be able to prosper. Being free from sickness and disease allows children to attend school, learn and grow into educated strong adults.
With medical care, a country's workforce is strengthened as adults are fit, healthy and strong enough to work full and productive days. If the main breadwinner has to stay at home with illness, they are not able to earn to provide for their families. Not only does the family fall into financial hardship, but work is left undone and the economy slows down and suffers.
Poor health holds communities back and, in many cases, causes them to stay trapped in the cycle of poverty.That is why we at Muslim Hands believe good health should be treated as one of the biggest priorities for the world's poor.
The sad reality, however, is that affordable and effective health care is an elusive hope in many parts of the world.
Even where health services are available, they are often dilapidated and lacking the resources to cater for the community's needs. This means illnesses are prolonged, infections are not contained and many preventable diseases become a cause of long-term illness and often, death. Muslim Hands run projects to address the most prevalent and widespread diseases. Many of the biggest killers are also those which are easily treated with targeted medical care.
Hospitals / Clinics |
Our hospitals and clinics provide checkups, treatment and long-term care for patients. We provide a range of services to meet the varying needs of different communities from building smaller field hospitals in Kosovo to much needed maternity clinics in Afghanistan and free medical dispensaries in Bangladesh. |
Mobile clinics and ambulances |
MH provides ambulances to transport the sick and injured to care in times of emergencies or when facilities are limited. Mobile clinics with doctors also travel to inaccessible areas to perform checkups or sometimes even minor surgery like cataract removal. |
Infant Mortality Reduction |
The programme assists expectant mothers throughout their pregnancy and childbirth to ensure safe deliveries and good health for both mother and child. |
HIV and AIDS Prevention |
Our desperately needed HIV and AIDS prevention programme provides screening, spot checks and education to prevent HIV and AIDS spreading. We run this throughout sub Saharan Africa and in rural India. |
Cholera and Malaria |
As one of the most infectious diseases in the world, we provide hygiene equipment to disinfect communal areas and prevent the spread of this killer disease. MH teams also distribute medicines to treat the symptoms, safe drinking water to prevent water-born infections and training to raise awareness on how to best protect against the danger of cholera. |
Polio treatment |
Our medical teams provide life-saving vaccinations to protect against polio and other major killer diseases like tuberculosis and measles. For those already affected, we send surgeons to perform reconstructive surgery for deformed limbs. Patients are also given physiotherapy and long-term advice on how to remain active and mobile. |
Cleft lip and palette correction |
A group of specialist plastic surgeons set up mobile clinics where those with a cleft-lip and palette can have this facial defect corrected. So far, hundreds of operations have been carried out in Pakistan and throughout rural China. |
Cataract removal surgery |
MH sends a travelling clinic with doctors to perform cataract removal and grant sight to the partially sighted and blind. Patients are treated free of charge to have their vision restored alhamdulillah. |
Awareness campaigns |
We run awareness campaigns to highlight common ways people can protect themselves from common illnesses and diseases. MH mobilise communities to use their knowledge, skills and resources to reverse the devastating impact of life-threatening diseases. These include workshops and training sessions on the best way to prevent and contain water-borne infections as well as the spread of contagious diseases. |
MH Medical Projects:
MH Staff in Sri Lanka
As a mother in Afghanistan, you face the harsh fact that 1 child in 5 will not survive to see their 2nd birthday. On the other side of the world in the UK however, a baby is 30 times more likely to live and experience a healthy childhood. Depending on where you are in the world, child death is the grim fate that awaits many across the poorest countries in the world.
The reality is these deaths are easily preventable with vaccines, clean water and hygiene education. MH initiated a campaign to reduce infant deaths in Sudan and Afghanistan which has now grown to help mothers and children in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China, India (Kashmir) and Sri Lanka.
The campaign to reduce infant deaths works on many different levels. Our IMR scheme supports a woman throughout her pregnancy, giving her advice on what she can expect during this time and after she has given birth. This is particularly important for first-time mothers and in societies where access to medical information about pregnancy is uncommon or even taboo.
MH has also trained maternity nurses and health professionals to carry out medical screenings to monitor the health of an expecting mother as well as provide her with immunisation against common illnesses like tetanus. In circumstances where some mothers are underweight or suffering from malnutrition, MH provide women with food and vitamin supplements to help strengthen her immune system and improve her general health. Women also benefit from ongoing monitoring during pregnancy and have somebody who they can speak to in confidence for advice.
The IMR takes a comprehensive approach to women and children and has had particular success since its inception in Africa with over 50 qualified specialists, 65 paramedics and more than 150 midwives involved in a single campaign in Sudan. Three years after its launch, MH is providing medical treatment and pregnancy screenings to 15,000 expecting mothers and children under the age of 5 with the aim of assisting many more women and children in upcoming years insha'Allah.
HIV & AIDsThe world has been living with HIV and AIDS for nearly 25 years, yet the pandemic continues to spread fuelled by widespread ignorance about the disease. In Africa alone it has claimed 17 million lives already and 25 million more people are infected, of which almost 2 million are children. Many are unaware that they are even infected. MH India and MH South Africa both run HIV and AIDS prevention campaigns, working amongst the most vulnerable groups.
Sub-Saharan Africa is by far the worst HIV affected region.
India alone has one of the highest rates of HIV infections around the world and last year, extensive work was carried out to assist victims and vulnerable groups. The MH AIDS project has screened and provided treatment for 1500 families screened and provided necessary treatment , carried out ‘spot checks' on 5000 teenagers, gave AIDs awareness to 20 community leaders including imams and priests.
A total of 50 families were provided with income generation tools in order to stop them from selling blood for their survival and to prevent the transmission of HIV. There were also door to door medical calls to approximately 1000 families. AIDs workers visited 200 health centres visited to educate the people about using HIV free blood and blood products from simple advice on advising barbers not to reuse the same blade on two customers. Four health visitors were also trained on how to carry out random screening.
MH has combined AIDS awareness programmes with our 'SAY NO TO DRUGS' Campaign and the Income Generation Schemes. The aim of all these programmes is clearly prevention by tackling illiteracy, poverty, and drug abuse amongst the most vulnerable groups.
A cleft lip or palate is a birth deformity that leaves a child with a prominent gap between their nose and mouth. Children affected by the condition often have problems with eating, speech and sometimes hearing too. In addition, there is often a large social stigma attached with a cleft lip with children deprived of affection from family, subject to bullying and later in life facing difficulties finding employment.
Partly genetic, the condition is more common amongst certain communities and in certain areas. The irony is that often a simple operation can quite easily help these children if they had access to qualified doctors. Recognising the urgent need, MH has mobile clinics which identify these areas and carry out corrective surgery helping children born with this defect lead a normal life.
So far, teams of professionals- including plastic surgeons- have been sent to Lahore, Pakistan to conduct operations free of charge and hundreds of operations have been carried out in the Lin Xia region of China where this condition is particularly common.
Cholera, Guinea Bissau
A young child waits in Cholera camp
Little is known about the dangers of cholera. The infectious water-borne disease is transmitted to humans through ingesting contaminated food or water. In the most severe cases, cholera is one of the most fatal of illnesses as even a healthy person can die within a matter of hours if left untreated.
In recent years, cholera has been a great menace to the people of Guinea Bissau with an outbreak of the disease killing dozens of people last summer. Muslim Hands took action then with a team of aid workers from the MH Gambia office and local volunteers to mobilise support to deliver aid and sanitation programmes.
Muslim Hands returned this year with increased assistance and the intervention was made at a time when 129 people had already been officially registered dead from the disease and 12,000 cases were reported all over the country. Of those who survive with the disease, many experience acute diarrhoea, severe dehydration, abdominal cramps, vomiting and nausea. Sobering still is that these figures do not reflect the true extent of the problem as they do not include unregistered cases and death in small rural villages and islands.
Cholera is spreading in Guinea Bissau for a number of reasons, the most significant amongst them is poor sanitation compounded with poorly designed latrines and lack of hygiene education.
The MH responseUpon arriving in Guinea Bissau, MH aid teams consulted with local authorities to identify and agree upon the best form of response to the crisis. The most immediate need to emerge was for sanitation and hygiene resources, in particular concentrated chlorine and disinfectant. Muslim Hands immediately purchased and delivered thousands of litres to the Central Medical units, 3 major hospitals and 114 health centres all over the country- the majority of which are designated to the worst affected areas.
Muslim Hands are also working to help hospitals which, ironically, have become centres which spread rather than inhibit the deadly infection. This is because staff and regular visitors to the hospital lack basic equipment to disinfect their hands when tending to patients and so become carriers of the highly infectious virus themselves as they eat, drink and work with contaminated hands.
Furthermore, an affected person's house, toilets and utensils should all be disinfected to prevent the further spread of this disease.
With the amount of sanitation aid distributed by Muslim Hands, it is estimated that over 150,000 have been saved from the risk of catching and spreading cholera.
Muslim Hands distributed a further 1000 litres of disinfectant and chlorine directly to local communities in the capital city, Bissau, which recorded the most cases of cholera victims. Twenty volunteers were trained on sensitisation, preparation and application as a preventative measure.
Following their training, each volunteer was sent to run education workshops around the importance of correct sanitation and infection control to various institutions including 12 mosques and 8 schools. The poorest families were given a litre of chlorine each for domestic use and over 50,000 people from local communities have directly benefitted from this support.
- 129 (officially) dead since last year
- 12,000 cholera sufferers reported across country
- 50,000 locals benefitted
- 150,000 hospital patients treated
- 3 major hospitals sanitised
- 114 health centres sanitised
- 20 specially trained volunteers
- 6000 litres of disinfectant distributed
- India: general medical clinic offering free checkups and treatment for the poorest locals, psycho-social support to rehabilitate children affected by conflict and displacement.
- Indonesia: mobile medical clinic; infant mortality reduction, cataract removal, hernia operations, psycho social support, artificial limbs, counselling for post-traumatic stress disorder, reproductive health clinic.
- Iraq: emergency medical care: dental clinics; wheelchair distribution for children who have lost limbs during sickness and through war, medical centre, psycho social support for traumatised children, orphanage for homeless teenage girls, Little Moon kindergarten for infants and toddlers.
- Kashmir (Pakistan): disability rehabilitation centres; three general medical clinics and five ambulances; counselling for those living near the disputed territory.
- Pakistan: cataract removal operations, orthopaedic surgery for polio victims, school medical checkups, cholera one day medical camp, polio eradication campaign, medical dispensary, wheelchair distribution, Kallarian central hospital, disability rehabilitation, cleft lip and palate reconstruction surgery, cataract removal eye operations, immunisation and health education.
- Kashmir (India): two blood banks serving 10,000 patients ; infant mortality reduction project: AIDS prevention.
- Kosova: Hospital with a fleet of ambulances for the sick, injured and traumatised of Peje.
- Mozambique: Two mobile medical units for doctors to access remote and inaccessible regions.
- Sri Lanka: emergency medical care; infant mortality reduction project; child feeding and maternal care; health awareness and education.
- Sudan: Infant mortality reduction project; health education, cataract removal
- Niger: Malaria prevention
- Gambia: Malaria prevention
- Bangladesh: cataract removal, free medical dispensary
- China: cleft lip and palate reconstruction surgery
- Senegal: Rural medical clinic with maternity ward for vulnerable mothers
- Afghanistan: psycho social support, permanent teaching hospital, infant mortality reduction, emedical centre
- Guinea Bissau: Cholera prevention
- Ethiopia: medical distribution and vaccination programme; health awareness in refugee camps
The overwhelming majority of people with HIV, some 95% of the global total, live in the developing world. The proportion is set to grow even further as infection rates continue to rise in countries where poverty, poor health care systems and limited resources for prevention and care fuel the spread of the virus.
Malaria facts
Each year malaria kills about one and three million people, mostly in tropical and subtropical regions, majority of who are young children in Sub saharan Africa.
Malaria is a potentially fatal tropical disease that is caused by a parasite known as Plasmodium. It is spread through the bite of an infected female mosquito. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells.
Symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, and vomiting, and usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If not treated, malaria can quickly become life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. In many parts of the world, the parasites have developed resistance to a number of malaria medicines.
Key interventions to control malaria include: prompt and effective treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapies; use of insecticidal nets by people at risk; and indoor residual spraying with insecticide to control the vector mosquitoes.
Malaria is one of the leading causes of disease and death in the world. It is estimated that there are 300-500 million new cases every year, with 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths worldwide.
Region |
Adults (aged 15+) and children living with HIV/AIDS, 2007 |
New HIV infections among adults (aged 15+) and children, in 2007 |
Adult (aged 15-49) prevalence (%), 2007 |
>Adult (aged 15+) and child deaths due to AIDS, in 2007 |
Sub-Saharan Africa |
22.0 million |
1.9 million |
5.0% |
1.5 million |
South/Southeast Asia |
4.2 million |
330,000 |
0.3% |
340,000 |
Eastern Europe/Central Asia |
1.5 million |
110,000 |
0.8% |
58,000 |
Latin America |
1.7 million |
140,000 |
0.5% |
63,000 |
North America |
1.2 million |
54,000 |
0.6% |
23,000 |
East Asia |
740,000 |
52,000 |
0.1% |
40,000 |
Western/Central Europe |
730,000 |
27,000 |
0.3% |
8,000 |
Middle East/North Africa |
380,000 |
40,000 |
0.3% |
27,000 |
Caribbean |
230,000 |
20,000 |
1.1% |
14,000 |
Oceania |
74,000 |
13,000 |
0.4% |
1,000 |
Global |
32.9 million |
2.7 million |
0.8% |
2.0 million |
UNAIDS/WHO, 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, July 2008
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