What does RTU do? - 7. Health Programme

Over the past six months my awareness that health is not something to take for granted has grown sharply, due to Dad's heart attack and my knee problem. In the midst of some stressful and difficult times, I have reflected very often on our good fortune in access to health care. Dad was on the receiving end of a huge amount of clinical expertise; combined with the availability of exceptionally sophisticated equipment, this gave him the best care imaginable. For my very much smaller problem, I had rapid access to a doctor and a physiotherapist. We would be outraged if this were not the case. Yet there are so many places in the world where even the most basic of health care is sparse or absent.

Health care has long been part of RTU's work. Around 150 people visit the main clinic each morning, receiving free consultations and medication. In the afternoon, a mobile clinic serves the more remote areas where there is no other access to medical care. A further 50 people can be treated each day. As well as dealing with illnesses and injuries, the clinics provide immunisation programmes, mother and baby clinics, and dentistry. New cases of leprosy and polio have been completely eradicated from the area as a result of immunisation; those already disabled by these diseases are given the long term care they require. As I have written elsewhere, treatment for HIV and AIDS, including anti-retroviral drug therapy, is an increasingly important part of the work of the clinic. In all, 70,000 people are treated each year through RTU's health programme.

As with all the other areas of RTU's work, local people are fully involved in improving their health and their access to health care. Local women are trained as Village Health Workers, who deal with straight-forward illnesses and injuries, refer more difficult cases to RTU's clinical team, run ante-natal clinics, and weigh young children regularly to check their nutrition is adequate. RTU provides a specially formulated nutritious flour in cases of need. With the availability of health care when it is needed, a better chance of being employed, and vastly improved educational opportunities, the people in this area can move beyond the fight for survival and can develop as individuals and communities. Surely this is a basic right for everyone?