In Chipata we are tackling preventable diseases through education and treatment. 

Across the world things are improving: children under five are less likely to die than they were several years ago. But high levels of HIV/AIDS and economic hardship mean that some countries are lagging behind this positive trend.

Half of the children who die before their fifth birthday (in 2006 it was 4.8 million out of 9.7 million) are in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of these children die from preventable diseases – pneumonia, malaria, diarrhoea, measles and AIDS.

Zambia and Millennium Development Goal 4

Zambia is one of the countries not on track to achieve Millennium Development Goal 4: to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015 – currently the rate is 148 per 1,000 live births  (compared to six per 1,000 in the UK).  There is a critical shortage of trained health professionals; there are fewer than 700 doctors for a population of more than 12 million.

So it is not surprising that an important part of our work is making sure that children and their families stay healthy. If we find insufficient medical services to serve the communities where we work, we build our own medical centres.

How do we provide healthcare in Zambia?

SOS Medical Centres provide basic healthcare according to the needs of the local population. Our staff run vaccination campaigns, set up small maternity wards, give advice on hygiene, nutrition, first aid and family planning, and provide education on HIV/AIDS.

We currently run two Medical Centres in Zambia, in Lusaka and Kitwe. Together these provide treatment and advice for 12,000 children and adults each year.

During the last decade, great strides have been made in reducing the number of new HIV infections on a global level. In sub-Saharan Africa, the biggest epidemics have either stabilised or are showing signs of decline.

Even so, every 14 seconds a child in Africa loses a parent because of AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa nearly three in 10 children have lost a parent because of the AIDS epidemic. It is estimated that 690,000 Zambian children are orphans as a result of HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS 2010 Global Report).

What will we do in Chipata?

In Chipata, the SOS Medical Centre will provide:

• Essential first-line treatment for opportunistic infections
• HIV/AIDS counselling and testing services, ARVs (antiretroviral drugs that suppress the HIV virus) and tuberculosis drugs
• Maternal health and nutritional services.

We will care for orphans and vulnerable children, AIDS-affected families, child and grandparent-headed families, pregnant women and newborn babies.

We will also run an SOS mobile medical unit from a specially adapted vehicle which will provide health education and medical treatment for poor and isolated communities.

With your help we can save the lives of Zambian children and their parents and carers, starting with critical preventative measures such as vaccination, ensuring good nutrition and promoting safe hygiene practices.

SOS Children’s project activities

• Build and equip the Medical Centre, as part of the new Children’s Village
• Provide a specially adapted mobile medical unit vehicle, with appropriate equipment
• Initiate vaccination campaigns for young children, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other local providers
• Launch health education programmes on nutrition, hygiene and HIV/AIDS
• Make sure that local people have access to health care
  
• Bring increased awareness in the community of how to avoid preventable diseases.