Prevention is better than the cure

In January and February of this year the health actions, dedicated to the prevention of the most common diseases, were held in Kanibadam.

The project "Enhancing Primary Health Care Services in the Republic of Tajikistan - Exit Phase" (Sino Project) funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for more than four years, is jointly implemented by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and Save the Children International. Working in various regions of our country, the Sino project has made a great contribution to one of the important aspects of the life of our population - health promotion. Last year, the Sino project has begun to work in the Kanibadam rayon, where it helps improve the self-organization of the population and increase the people's potential, their sense of confidence in their own abilities to address health problems.

In Kanibadam rayon in the past two years, in the autumn-winter period, there was a high incidence of Hepatitis "A", especially among children and adolescents. These cases were stated as an outbreak of viral Hepatitis "A". For the Sino project staff this served as an important reason to support the colleagues from the Healthy Life style Center (HLSC) and Primary Health Care (PHC) in carrying out activities to raise public awareness in the prevention of Hepatitis "A". These events were carried out in the villages with the highest incidence rate.

On January 11, this year, in the Patar village of Jamoat Patar a health action on preventing Hepatitis “A” was organized, where more than 200 local residents, health workers, teachers and schoolchildren participated. The scenario and plan of the event were developed by the staff of rayon HLSC, with the active participation of local health workers from the Rural Health Center (RHC) “Patar”. In addition, there were organized thematic colorful theatrical performances, songs, and dances in which participated representatives of the population, local health workers, teachers and schoolchildren. On the day of the event, the administration of the local school provided a big school hall for conducting of this event, which was full of population of a village, adults and children. The participants of the action provided important information about Hepatitis "A" and effective ways to prevent this disease. To the visitors were distributed information leaflets and booklets about the Hepatitis A, which was developed by the key specialists of the Republican HLSC and with the support of the Sino Project. The best drawing competition were held among schoolchildren on the topic of hygiene. During competition, high school students showed their deep knowledge of the disease. Those correctly responded to questions about Hepatitis A were given gifts, small hygiene kits which included soap, shampoo and necessary items to maintain the hygiene of hands and body. The audience expressed gratitude to the participants and organizers of the event for holding an entertaining information session. 

Another urgent and burdensome problem for the population of the Kanibadam rayon is the hypertension. After the sessions of the Participatory Reflection and Action (PRA), this problem was recognized by the population and health workers as the most important, especially among residents of Zarbed village of Jamoat Pulodon.  This was the reason for holding in March, in this village, a health campaign dedicated to the problems of hypertension - "Prevention is better than the cure". The main goal of the action was to draw the attention of the population to the issues of prevention and early detection of cardiovascular diseases.  In addition, the organizers wanted to raise the information literacy among population, to develop skills on controlling of blood pressure, and to motivate the population to follow the principles of a healthy lifestyle, develop their interest to sport, and to care about their own health. Three hundred seventy one resident of this village attended this event. Doctor Ayub Bobozoda, the leading cardio-rheumatologist of the rayon, provided interesting facts about hypertension from his practice. He described how simply prevent the development of hypertension, if you correct nutrition aspects of your food provision and lead a healthy lifestyle. The audience saw some interesting and informative theatrical performances about the prevention of hypertension, performed by village active people, teachers and schoolchildren health workers Rural Health Center Zarbed. The active participation of children and adolescents at this event will further help the formation of their skills of preservation and strengthening of their health, the importance of adherence to the principles of proper nutrition and healthy lifestyles.