A Family of Clinics in Rural Nepal
When I traveled to Nepal in October, 2009, I met with a number of impressive NGOS (some already described in Women’s Giving Tree) and my best experience was with a grass roots organization, a women’s health clinic, located in the foothills 2-3 hours outside Kathmandu. The clinic is one of four village clinics established by World Neighbors, an American NGO, but are now independent nonprofit community clinics. Friends of Nepal Pariwar Foundation (pariwar means family) provides partial support for salaries of nurse-midwives; other expenses are covered by small fees for services and margin on medicines sold. The clinics work on very little money and serve a very wide area.
We drove down a steep mountainside to a hamlet surrounded by rich green rice paddies. The clinic served even more distant villages by providing basic gynecological and obstetric services to women who often walked a day to the clinic to receive care. I met a woman, toothless when she smiled, who was being treated for uterine prolapse, a common problem resulting from either early childbirth or lack of rest after delivery. She was incredibly grateful to be given a vaginal ring, which cost little and made such a big difference!
The clinics do about two-thirds general care and one third women’s and maternal care. Two thirds of the clients are female from all ages. In the last year close to two thousand women were provided family planning services with 81 percent using Depo-Provera, a contraceptive injection given every 3 months, often at “depo camps” stations set up along the road. Family planning users increased by percent in one year. The clinics performed 259 clinic deliveries, a 28 percent increase from the previous year and included prenatal checkups. As Tom Arens, President of the Foundation, observed, “It’s common for a woman to arrive in the middle of the night for delivery, carried from a remote village in a basket or a chair usually used for a bride being carried to her wedding.” Tom takes travelers to Nepal on visits to the clinics – it’s an amazing experience
The four clinics manage on their own small earnings and a grant under $15,000 a year. I know that my small annual contribution goes a long way. Won’t you join me in helping the rural women of Nepal? For more information or to make a contribution, email tarens@sonic.net
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This time has come for me to take a leave of absence for several months
from Women's Giving Tree. I moved to Washington, DC at the end of December
and am fully caught up in getting settled in a new apartment, working at
the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and launching my new book.