This is a Tax Deductible OARF project

Community Health

Driving on roads that dropped away to wide chasms below, we made our way to the clinic.  Hours later we arrived to find that people from several villages had gathered for medical care.  This was their only chance in a long time to see a doctor, to ask advice and seek relief.  Some of the villagers had walked for hours over overgrown paths and slippery slopes, glad for a healthy meal and some care. We saw more than 70 patients that day, each patient with a story, a history, a need.

Enabled is a community development program that works mainly through community health volunteers (CHVs) seeking to improve the health of people in India. Enabled works in an area that has high infant mortality and child malnutrition, and an inadequate understanding of how to promote health and prevent disease.

The broad aims of Enabled are to:

• Provide a channel for resources to support the work of community health and development staff and Community Health Volunteers (CHVs).
• Maintain and equip the CHVs to undertake health and development activities to promote the physical, emotional, spiritual and social wellbeing of their community.
• Strengthen linkages with local hospitals and the wider health system, so that poor and isolated people can access basic healthcare.

Enabled have also established a program to provide practical assistance to families affected by disability. This program is firmly grounded on the understanding that every person is valuable, and should have the opportunity to live with purpose and hope.

Enabled Disability provides services to:

• children and young people with disabilities
• families caring for disabled family members
• community groups, helping them to love, care and include those with disabilities in their communities

Enabled has exceeded its original training goals, with more than 200 health workers trained, monthly clinics in each village, and numerous patients assisted to attend for treatment at the local hospital. On the development side they also run two nursery school groups, literacy classes and computer training.