When the Marawi conflict erupted on 23 May 2017, Saima Lagie, together with her husband and their two children, only waited until nightfall to flee the city they call home. We find them now as one of the hundreds of thousands of Marawi residents displaced to nearby communities in Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur. They live with relatives in a barangay (village) called Bubong in Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur.
Before fleeing Marawi, Saima noticed a skin rash on the arm of her one-year-old daughter, Norhainie. Within a few days of staying in Bubong, the mother noticed her daughter’s skin getting worse but she wasn’t sure if it’s the same one or a new skin problem.
“Norhainie had something reddish on her arm; it was round. But it wasn’t as bad as it is now,” explains Saima.
Norhainie has red sores from head to toe which are extremely itchy to the one-year old girl. Some of the sores have already developed into scabs from healing after being accidentally scratched.
Skin diseases are one of the top five conditions reported by the health officers in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte. The internally displaced persons (IDPs) have increased vulnerability to skin diseases due to unfavourable living conditions in their temporary residences either in evacuation centres or relatives’ homes.
Other health problems observed in the displaced residents and community members are respiratory infections, acute watery diarrhoea, hypertension, and influenza-like illnesses.
To help residents as well as IDPs in these communities with their health needs, the World Health Organization, with support from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), has deployed mobile health teams to help address the health problems in select communities. The teams provide preventive and curative health services, including medical services, nutrition, psychosocial support, and reproductive health.
The project is being implemented by local non-profit organization Mindanao Organization for Social and Economic Progress (MOSEP) to the displaced populations and residents in Saguiaran in Lanao del Sur and Balo-i, Pantar and Pantao Ragat in Lanao del Norte.
“I think this is really important because if the kids get sick, we can immediately bring them here,” explains Saima. “Especially for those of us with no money, this is very helpful.”
Through the mobile health clinic, Norhainie was quickly diagnosed with impetigo, a common but infectious skin disease among children caused by staphylococci, streptococci, or a combination of both organisms.
Since the start of the deployment of the mobile health team in August, an average of 70 patients has been seen per visit in 90 barangays. Each barangay will be visited at most twice a month within the project period to ensure wider reach among the communities. As of writing, over 15,000 patients have been seen by the mobile health teams.
Original source: Reliefweb.
Posted on 3 October 2017
