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Paula Ward, World of Irish Nursing, September 2006
Irish nurse Paula Ward is one of 14,000 aid workers active in the
Darfur region. She spoke to Simon Roughneen about her experiences
KASSAB camp outside the town of Kutum in northern Darfur is a home
of sorts to 20,000 people displaced by fighting.Three years into
the Darfur conflict, almost three million people have been forced
from their homes and over 300,000 have died.
A peace deal established in May looks increasingly flawed, with
two of the three main rebel factions refusing to sign up.
Paula Ward manages the GOAL health programme in Kutum and the camps
outside the town. In Kassab camp, two clinics provide a range of
services to people whose lives and livelihoods remain curtailed
by the prevailing insecurity.
Aged 26 and from Moate in Co Westmeath, Paula is a registered general
nurse and prior to this stint with GOAL she worked in the Bone Marrow
Transplant Unit at St James’s Hospital, Dublin.
Darfur illustrates the nexus between politics, conflict and the
humanitarian crisis affecting civilians.With the countryside unsafe,
people have to stay in camps. Kultum, a mother of six, spent her
Saturday morning at one of the GOAL clinics in Kassab camp. She
sat with Tahini, one of her daughters, whose left eye was almost
glued shut due to an apparent infection.
Explaining how her life had changed with the advent of the conflict:
“On our farm we grew sorghum, mangoes, onions, okra, tomatoes,
oilseeds.We had a healthy lifestyle. But since the war started it
is not safe to go back. Now we are in the camp and are dependent
on aid for basic things like food and medicine. Every day someone
in the family is sick and has to come to this clinic,” she
said.
GOAL runs curative care, expanded immunisation, community health
and nutrition programmes in Kutum. One core aspect of the multifaceted
health programme is the midwifery section.
“The coverage for antenatal care is very good for all our
clinics. The team runs an outreach programme, whereby high-risk
pregnancies are identified, referred to hospital, and cultural practices
– particularly with some aspects of home deliveries –
are assessed,”Paula said.
From 2003-2004 Paula worked with GOAL in the Democratic Republic
of Congo. Incredibly perhaps, in the region of three to five million
people have died there from conflict and conflict-related health
issues since 1998, when Africa’s second largest country collapsed
into a complex civil and regional conflict involving an array of
militias and foreign armies. It is the single largest conflict-related
loss of life anywhere since World War II.
“The Democratic Republic of Congo is a real health emergency.Over
10,000 people every day die from treatable and preventable diseases,”
said Paula. It was hoped that elections to be held as we went to
press would result in a more stable political system in the region,
which in turn might prove beneficial in humanitarian terms.
It is estimated that 75% of the population– more than 42
million people – are currently in a precarious food situation,
while the Congolese Ministry of Public Health puts the overall figure
for severe malnutrition at 16% of the population.
Despite the insecurity, some 14,000 aid workers are active across
Darfur, ensuring that health services are delivered to those most
in need.
An estimated 60,000-80,000 more Darfurians have been driven from
their homes this year, putting additional strain on their health
as they are forced from their farms and existing infrastructure
is destroyed. Commenting on her move from nursing at home in Ireland
to humanitarian aid, Paula explained that this was something that
she had always wanted to do.
“GOAL gives you the autonomy to try out ideas, and there
is plenty of room for people to move from direct implementation
to programme management and design.My role is not just about providing
healthcare directly. I manage the health programme in this area
and the aim is to train local medical staff to the point that we
will not be needed any longer,”she said.
GOAL is seeking nurses and qualified medical personnel for its
humanitarian aid provision in 14 countries worldwide.
GOAL is an international humanitarian agency dedicated to the alleviation
of the suffering of the poorest of the poor.GOAL believes in keeping
its cost base as low as possible and is proud to have kept administration
costs at an average of 5% over a 29-year period.
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