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<p>Since 2005, the International Rescue Committee has been working with refugees and local communities in the remote Turkana region of northern Kenya to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, provide basic clinical care and fight stigma. This IRC outreach worker is giving out basic information about HIV/AIDS to residents of the town of Lokichoggio, near the Sudanese border. Most people living in the region, however, are nomadic herders -- so we rely on mobile teams who travel in off-road vehicles to reach communities with vital counseling and testing services.</p>
<p>This is the HIV/AIDS voluntary counseling and testing center at the IRC-supported Kakuma Mission Hospital in northwestern Turkana. As of August 2010, the IRC had tested more than 110,000 people for the AIDS virus in Turkana and provided access to free antiretroviral therapy for over 1,500 patients.</p>
<p>An IRC counselor demonstrates condom use during a voluntary counseling and testing session for couples. In all, our HIV/AIDS care and prevention efforts have reached more than a quarter million people -- half the population of Turkana.</p>
<p>This Somali Bantu mother-to-be is participating in an HIV/AIDS counseling and testing session at the Kakuma Refugee Camp as part of the IRC&#39;s prenatal care program. One of the biggest challenges of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS -- the risk of which can be significantly reduced with early intervention -- is identifying HIV-positive pregnant women.</p>
<p>A youth advocacy group at the Kakuma Refugee Camp uses theater to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS among the refugees from 12 African countries who live here.&nbsp; Raising awareness is the core of the IRC&#39;s strategy to prevent the disease&#39;s spread and manage its negative social impacts &ndash; especially stigma.&nbsp; Since many young people in Turkana are out of school but unemployed, the IRC recruits them to take part in campaigns reaching out to their peers.</p>
<p>&quot;Fabulous,&quot; a group of young women and girls who provide HIV/AIDS awareness outreach, talk to villagers in Lokichoggio.&nbsp; Girls and young women are particularly at risk of becoming infected with HIV/AIDS in Kenya -- in fact, those aged 15 to 19 are three times more likely to be infected than young men in the same age group. The IRC has been engaging members of at-risk groups, training them to promote behavioral changes that can help prevent the spread of disease.</p>
<p>Joseph Emejen (left) and Joseph Epetet, community advocates from Lokichoggio who are both HIV-positive.&nbsp; The two men are part of an IRC program that empowers people living with HIV/AIDS to educate their neighbors about the disease and to play an important role in planning local HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs. &quot;Stigma in the communities is still very high,&quot; Josepeh Emejen says. Joseph Epetet agrees. He says it is often very hard to make people understand that it is possible to be HIV-positive and enjoy a long, fulfilling life, but that it requires a healthy lifestyle, responsible behavior, and strict, life-long anti-retroviral therapy.</p>
<p>A young mother from Lodwar is congratulated by an IRC staff member as she graduates from the IRC&#39;s &quot;Families First!&quot; HIV/AIDS prevention program. The program stresses the importance of talking with children and young adolescents about sexuality, and offers caregivers advice on how best to approach sensitive subjects. &quot;According to the Turkana tradition, these things are not discussed openly,&quot; says one father who graduated from the program.&nbsp; &quot;Children usually get embarrassed and surprised when their parents try to talk to them about sexuality or diseases like HIV,&quot; he says. &quot;Since I&#39;ve started coming here, I&#39;m able to talk to them.&quot;</p>
<p>The IRC is also taking HIV/AIDS prevention messages to the classroom. These primary school teachers in Turkana are receiving life skills training from the IRC which includes a session on HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and treatment.</p>
<p>Eregae, a presenter at Radio Sayare, Lodwar, hosts an HIV/AIDS awareness program and takes listeners&#39; questions. In remote areas such as Turkana, where access to TV, print media and the Internet is limited, radio is an important source of information. The IRC pioneered the use of radio by a nonprofit in Turkana to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS.</p>
<p>A member of the medical staff at the IRC-supported AIC Health Center in Lokichoggio gives tuberculosis medication to a young Turkana girl. Tuberculosis is one of the main killers of AIDS patients.</p>
<p>Samual Ikeny and Bethwel Lochor are administrators at the AIC Health Center. Working together with partners -- a cornerstone of the IRC&#39;s approach -- has helped us build the capacity of local organizations and put into place a lasting HIV/AIDS response that saves lives. (Updated December 2010)</p>

Fighting HIV/AIDS in Kenya

Kenya
12.01.2010

Almost three decades after the first cases of AIDS were recorded, nearly 30 million people have died of HIV-related causes.  In Kenya, the IRC has been helping refugees and local communities protect themselves from this modern plague — and the stigma associated with it.

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Oservio Janvier walks up concrete steps to his in-laws' house to pick up Genald.
A smiling Genald is glad to back in his dad's arms
Genald looks around his relatives' home one last time as the adults do paperwork
Oservio and Genald walk toward the IRC car for the ride home
Oservio rests his hand on his son's head as they walk back to the IRC car
An overjoyed Genald and Oservio are back at home in Oservio's tent.

Family reunion in Haiti

Haiti
11.24.2010

After losing his wife and his home to January's devastating earthquake, Oservio Janvier lost touch with the relatives who found and cared for his son in the chaos that followed. Nine months later, an IRC family tracing team's detective work brought an overjoyed Oservio and his little boy, nine-year-old Genald, back together.

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Nowshera, Pakistan: Children try a damaged hand pump in their village.
Nowshera, Pakistan: International Rescue Committee water tanker
Nowshera, Pakistan: Children fill drinking water containers
Nowshera, Pakistan: Three women living in tents
Nowshera, Pakistan: A widow, Tasleem, speaks about her family's hardships
Nowshera, Pakistan: Tamala, a mother of eight, in her temporary kitchen
Nowshera, Pakistan: This girl has not been able to return to school
Nowshera, Pakistan: This boy is suffering from a skin infection after the floods
Nowshera, Pakistan: Two girls collecting water in their village

Pakistan after the floods

Pakistan
11.23.2010

The IRC is providing lifesaving aid to families who lost their homes and livelihoods to the worst flooding in Pakistan’s history.  Although flood waters have receded in the northwestern Nowshera district and other hard-hit areas, the situation remains desperate.

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Men pray in the rubble of their flooded mosque in Swat Valley, Pakistan
A boy plays with a wooden rifle in Swat valley, Pakistan
Men, donkey carry wood on road in Swat Valley, Pakistan cleared by aid workers
Men in Swat Valley, Pakistan work on a water system installed by the IRC
Two villagers sit atop an IRC-built water tank in Swat Valley, Pakistan
Boys in Swat Valley, Pakistan play football in warm clothes from the IRC
A man in Swat Valley, Pakistan works in an IRC-built irrigation canal.
Children play cricket on a rebuilt street: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
A man rides a tractor in northwestern Pakistan
A village elder inspects a new crop of wheat in northwestern Pakistan.
A boy feeds chickens in northwestern Pakistan.
Four village elders in Camp Korona, northwestern Pakistan

Swat after the floods

Pakistan
11.23.2010

The people of Swat Valley have gone through unimaginable suffering in the course of just two years; first when the Pakistani military launched an offensive to drive out Taliban militants from the area and then by the worst floods in Pakistan’s history. The IRC is helping local communities recover and rebuild.

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<p>Nearly 8,000 people live in the Tham Hin refugee camp, including 3,000 children. Around 300 children are born in the camp every year. IRC-trained midwives provide pre and postnatal care, family planning, immunizations and supplementary feeding for malnourished children.</p>
<p>A pregnant woman waits to see a midwife for a check-up. Once a month, all pregnant mothers gather in the camp&rsquo;s thatched maternity ward to be weighed, examined and receive supplemental food.</p>
<p>Tanaw, 27, who uses only one name, is one of 15 midwives in the Tham Hin camp. &ldquo;Part of my job is to make sure that pregnant women know how to take care of their children, before and after birth,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I talk to them about the nutrients they need and how to avoid infections.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Children in Tham Hin are regularly weighed and measured to determine if they are malnourished or suffer from disease.</p>
<p>Tanaw calculates a patient&rsquo;s estimated delivery date using a cardboard gestation calculator, also known as a pregnancy wheel.</p>
<p>Tanaw gently feels a patient&rsquo;s belly and checks her blood pressure. She listens for the baby&rsquo;s heart beat with a stethoscope and measures the width of the stomach. &ldquo;If we detect a serious problem either with mother or baby, we can immediately refer the patient to a hospital outside the camp,&rdquo; Tanaw says.</p>
<p>Naw Mu, 23, is helped into an IRC ambulance for a four-hour drive to a hospital. The IRC&rsquo;s Dr. Parueluk Kesorn suspects a premature separation of the placenta from the uterine wall. &ldquo;She must receive treatment immediately,&rdquo; Kesorn says.</p>
<p>A father helps his daughter, suffering from bronchitis, breathe oxygen through a mask in the Tham Hin maternity ward. Respiratory tract infections are the most common ailment among children in the camp.</p>
<p>A midwife uses a special stethoscope that enables her to hear the fetal heart beat. All midwives attend a six-month training course where they learn delivery techniques, postnatal care, immunization, nutrition, first aid skills and hygiene.</p>
<p>A midwife administers a prenatal check-up to an expectant mother.</p>
<p>Lay Htoo, 20, is looking at her newborn daughter Di Lay, born a few hours earlier in the camp&rsquo;s maternity ward. The first-time mother is being treated for tuberculosis and is very weak. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m tired but very happy,&rdquo; she smiles.</p>
<p>Malnourished mothers and children receive extra food and iron tablets. Anemia and malnutrition are problems in the camp, especially among refugees who recently arrived from Myanmar.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I know I am doing something very important,&rdquo; says Tanaw, who herself is a Burmese refugee. &ldquo;My dream is to return to Myanmar and help mothers in the villages there too.&rdquo;</p>

The lifesaving midwives of Tham Hin

Thailand
11.18.2010

Nestled deep in the hills of Western Thailand, the Tham Hin refugee camp is a patchwork of bamboo huts housing nearly 8,000 people. Most of the camp’s residents are refugees from Myanmar who have fled war and upheaval in their homeland and have lived in the camp for years, or in some cases, decades. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is the camp’s sole provider of health care, including the vital service of training and providing midwives. Each year, 15 IRC-trained midwives examine and support hundreds of women and children in the camp. The examinations can detect potentially life-threatening conditions such as infections, severe anemia or an abnormal position of the fetus, in time for treatment and referral to hospitals outside the camp.Photos and text by Peter Biro/The IRC
 

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A man constructs a coffin in a camp for earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince
A dirty stream runs through the Cite Cabrit camp in Martissant, Haiti
An oral rehydration kiosk in Cite Cabrit camp in Martissant, Haiti
cholera response log sheets in Haiti
Children sing a song about washing hands with soap to prevent the spread cholera

Taking cholera very seriously

Haiti
11.17.2010

Earthquake survivors living in crowded camps in Port-au-Prince are taking a deadly outbreak of cholera — Haiti's first — very seriously. The IRC has trained community members to educate their neighbors about ways to avoid getting sick.

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Small girl and her baby sister after Hurricane Tomas hit Haiti
A canal dug before Hurricane Tomas hit helped protect this tent
Churchgoers after Hurricane Tomas
Laundry hangs out to dry in the sun after Hurricane Tomas
School books dry in the sun after Hurricane Tomas
This home had been flooded by rain -- now dried to mud -- after Hurricane Tomas
Children's shoes dry in the hot sun After Hurricane Tomas
Decorations were still up from a party celebrating last month's start of classes at this small school in the Etienne 2 camp, Tabarre. The bright blue sky made it hard to believe that, just over 24 hours earlier, Port-au-Prince had been bracing for a potentially devastating hurricane.

After Hurricane Tomas

Haiti
11.06.2010

Susana Ferreira was part of an IRC team assessing damage a day after Hurricane Tomas battered parts of Haiti still struggling to recover from January's earthquake. She took these photos in three of the camps the team visited in Port-au-Prince.

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Chet Nath and family, Bhutanese refugees celebrate Diwali in New York City
Chet Nath and family, Bhutanese refugees celebrate Diwali in New York City
Chet Nath and family, Bhutanese refugees celebrate Diwali in New York City
Chet Nath and family, Bhutanese refugees celebrate Diwali in New York City
Chet Nath and family, Bhutanese refugees celebrate Diwali in New York City
Chet Nath and family, Bhutanese refugees celebrate Diwali in New York City
Chet Nath and family, Bhutanese refugees celebrate Diwali in New York City
Chet Nath and family, Bhutanese refugees celebrate Diwali in New York City
Chet Nath and family, Bhutanese refugees celebrate Diwali in New York City
Chet Nath and family, Bhutanese refugees celebrate Diwali in New York City
Chet Nath and family, Bhutanese refugees celebrate Diwali in New York City

Celebrating Diwali

US - New York, NY
11.04.2010

Though far from their families and without access to many traditional items used in Diwali celebrations, dozens of Bhutanese refugees gathered in the small Bronx apartment of Chet Nath Timsina’s cousin Yamuna to celebrate the festival of lights. It was the Timsina family’s first time observing the holiday in the United States. They were recently resettled in the Bronx by the IRC, after nearly two decades in a refugee camp in Nepal.

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Houses in Myanmar destroyed by Cyclone Giri
Cyclone victims find shelter and a meal in a school in Myanmar
People are using water buffalo carts and boats to travel after Cyclone Giri
Clycline Giri damaged this village in Myanmar's water supply
A dam damaged by Cyclone Giri in Myanmar
Cyclone Giri destroyed this school in Myanmar

After Cyclone Giri

Asia, Myanmar
11.04.2010

The IRC is assisting communities affected by Cyclone Giri, which struck the northwestern coast of Myanmar in late October. According to the government, some 71,000 people were displaced and over 14,000 homes destroyed.

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Children fly kites made of plastic bags in a camp for quake survivors in Haiti
Children fly kits in strong winds that as Tropical Storm Tomas approached
A woman in Haiti prepares her tarp home for Tropical Storm Tomas
A woman in Haiti prepares her tarp home for Tropical Storm Tomas
Venel Nelson, a primary school teacher and camp resident, holds his prized dicti
Camp residents in Villambetta prepare for Tomas

Tomas Threatens Haiti

Caribbean, Haiti
11.04.2010

Earthquake survivors living in tent settlements in Haiti brace for Tropical Storm Tomas as IRC teams go door-to-door helping families prepare. IRC communications officer Susana Ferreira shared these photos.

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