Rachael Gentile (right) and Bishu Tamang discussing maternal healthcare

Women's healthcare survey (REPORT)

In March 2009, Rachael Gentile surveyed the status of women's healthcare in the Kangchenjunga region. The survey comprised inspecting healthposts, examining their records, and interviewing healthcare workers and such village women as were available. In this work, she was ably assisted by Bishu Tamang, from Katmandu, who speaks excellent English and acted as an interpreter.

The survey highlighted varying levels of healthcare facilities and vaying levels of education. Larger villages generally have better and better-staffed health posts, and the better-educated villagers are more likely to seek help from the healthcare workers. Poor healthcare education appeared most prevalent in the poorer villages, where poverty, inadequate nutrition, and poor pay makes attracting and keeping healthcare workers problematical.

It was gratifying to find that, although the smallest and most distant, the villages of Folay and Ghunsa, where KSP focusses its efforts, appeared to have the most satisfactory healthcare arrangements.

Rachael's REPORT lists some specific recommendations for each village.

In parallel with the survey, Rachael and Bishu conducted several educational sessions in which they talked about maternal healthcare, showed an educational video, used flip charts, and answered questions. Generally, they had substantial audiences (10-20) of interested women (men were excluded).

The video, video player, and battery-charging equipment were provided by KSP.