Nestled in between the two colossal nations Nepal, geographically, stands tall in the world. While its natural beauties magnets the whole world, its difficult terrains have been the cause hard life.
Women envelop more than half of population of the globe, They have various roles to carry out. They carry the bigger load of responsibly. However, the importance of their role has not been recognized by the society. Countries like ours where the male baby is given more preference baby girls discriminated from their birth.
Community Service Academy, COSAN, with its purpose to strength the health of the needy women in Nepal, has been involved in various reproductive health activities for last two decades. COSAN has been able to provide the preventive and curative services for the suffering women.
The Women’s Health Program aims to raise awareness, help prevent and cure the incidences of uterine prolapse (UP) among the rural, poor women of Central and Western districts of Nepal, with the view of improving their health and increasing their life expectancy. Women’s health is highly neglected in Nepal, one of the few countries in the world where a woman’s life expectancy is lower than a man’s, and uterine prolapse is a common health issue among women. Studies in Nepal indicate that some 600,000 women, or 40% of the female population, suffer from second and third-degree uterine prolapse. Several non-government and/or community-based organisations are helping to address this issue by focusing on offering operations to women to cure the condition. But research suggests that little is done in educating women on how to prevent uterine prolapse. This project aims to fill this gap by funding the development and implementation of an awareness and training campaign including the curative services as needed for the women in need.
Positive changes are also empowering communities. Free health clinics to diagnose and treatment, seminars and training workshop to present the messages for prevention.
With the vision to bring positive impact on the health of women and thus reduce the morbidity COSAN has been continuously providing its services in different district on Nepal, COSAN has been able to serve the women in need from Mechi, Pashupati Nagar, to Kanchanpur, reaching up to Dilekh. Various POP screening camps have been organized, where preventive messages are given and patients needing surgical services are referred to the nearest hospitals. Thousands of women, school and college students, and communities have been benefited by its awareness programs, and more than 9000 POP patients have been operated.
Along with women’s health programs, COSAN has been involved in children education program. Thousands of children have become homeless and destitute because of the long internal political instability.
COSAN also has been involved in welfare services. Working with the most down trodden communities, like Chepang, and other marginal communities has been a great experience to share their burden. Providing them the medical care, supporting them with food and warm clothes/blankets in winter, and providing the support in their children’s education has brought a very positive impact in those places.
Women living far away from the modern services and communications have no knowledge about the reproductive rights, they are not even aware about the system of the government health services. Advocating the women about rights regarding the health services has been another important part of the services COSAN is involved in.
COSAN has been providing the POP services without interruption, for last two decades. The first case operated by COSAN in the late 1990s at the Seventh day Adventist Mission Hospital in Banepa, sheds light on the difficult life and the suffering faced in many remote parts of Nepal. The breathtaking landscape of Nepal, with mountains and hills, pose a variety of challenges to people who live here, especially women. The patriarchal and conservative society, alongside the prevalence of gender discrimination, has given rise to many obstacles for women.
This project aims to help rural women, between the ages of 15 and 70, where incidences of uterine prolapse are among the highest in the country. It is anticipated that over 50,000 women will be involved in various training seminars, community support programs, workshops on women advocacy rights and in the distribution of resources. Some 5,000 girls will also be encouraged to attend awareness activities conducted at various schools in these districts. It is also anticipated that approximately 6,000 women will be screened for the condition and up to 600 will receive operation support for second and third-degree uterine prolapse.
