Project: Mother Child Clinic at Tar Agok

Project convenor: Dr Anil Cherian

 

GOAL: To decrease maternal and child morbidity and mortality, locally in the Anyidi sub-county of the Bor South County

 

Project Description: 

The MCH clinic is planned as a “midwife led clinic” with one midwife, two helpers and building up the service as it becomes known. It is designed to provide primary healthcare by providing antenatal care, birth planning, immunisation services, under five clinic, nutritional monitoring and support services for children under 5 years and treatment of common illness. In the near future we hope to be able to conduct normal deliveries. JHSI will recruits the necessary staff, develop the practice which includes the procurement of medical and surgical supplies. The MCH clinic services will be promoted through the ECSS. A referral link will be established with the Christian Memorial Hospital (Pakwau) which is 3-4 km away and the Bor State Referral Hospital that is 8 km. With time we also hope to have a community outreach programmes. Doctors, Clinical Officers and the Students from JHSI will also be posted on a regular basis to supervise the work, continuing education of the midwife hired and establishing the practice management systems including a simple pharmacy. The midwife will stay on the Clinic premises and so will be available for 6 days a week. The services will also be available in the evenings for the immediate Tar Agok community.  Funding for this initial stage shared with another CHI’s partner, African Mission HealthCare.

 

Background of the situation:

South Sudan is a young country with very high maternal and under five mortality figures, putting it a long way behind neighbouring countries. There are very limited services in the locality of Tar Agok which has a large population of small villages. It lies on the outskirts of Bor the capital of Jonglei state. 

A clinic to serve mothers and children was envisaged by the Episcopal Church of South Sudan. Mothers Union, way back in 2013. Building work commenced around 2014 with help from the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide. However, this project was discontinued. In 2019 Christian Health Initiatives (CHI) put forward a proposal to Health Serve Australia to complete the construction of the clinic and to have it renovated to make it operational. Now the amenities are ready to open but there is a need for a pioneering budget for staff and materials to get the clinic going.  Eventually it is our hope that the clinic will generate its own revenues to support  its operational costs and become self-sufficient.

 

The need:

The vision for the clinic and its long period of construction through times of war and peace remains as valid today as when it was first dreamed of. CHI became involved in the final stages of construction from 2019 with funding from HSA. This was at the invitation of the Archbishop of the Jonglei Internal Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan. 

The motivation of CHI to be involved was because CHI and Jonglei Health Sciences Institute would benefit from being closely involved. The clinic will become a training location for its midwifery and clinical medicine students. 

Dr Anil Cherian has a role in the diocese and province as a health advisor to the ECSS. There are shared aims of getting the church more involved in health care at the primary level, including making immunisations more available using church facilities. 

 

The partner:

Christian Health Initiatives is the local NGO formed by South Sudanese Christian medical leaders as the funding channel for projects, of which the first has been the Jonglei Health Sciences Institute. 

 

CHI’s Vision: The people of South Sudan and its neighbouring countries will enjoy a state of health and well-being that is rightfully theirs. 

CHI’s Mission: Christian Health Initiatives shall endeavour to improve the health of the people of South Sudan especially the most vulnerable communities and groups by strengthening the healthcare system of the nation

 


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ABN 42 958 367 110

HealthServe Australia works in partnership with other international organisations, complementing their strengths with health resources. It has a special relationship with the largest group of Christian health professionals in Australia, the Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia (CMDFA) through which it was established. Many of the CMDFA members have worked for a number of years overseas in health work.

 

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