International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Health volunteers

Photos: 
<p>Zubeda was selected by her neighbors as the community health volunteer for their village, Agusha, which lies near the Southern Sudan border. Here she asks a mother about her child&#39;s health problems.</p><br /><br /><em>Photo: Yolanda Barbera/IRC </em><br /><br />
<p>Makuoya, a health volunteer serving another remote village in the region, observes a baby to see if he has pneumonia symptoms. The baby&#39;s mother told Makuoya that he had been unable to breastfeed.</p><br /><br /><em>Photo: Yolanda Barbera/IRC </em><br /><br />
<p>When a child stops breastfeeding, that&#39;s a danger sign for Makuoya. She fills out a referral form to give to the baby&rsquo;s mother, so that she can take him to a health center for care.</p><br /><br /><em>Photo: Yolanda Barbera/IRC </em><br /><br />
<p>As she hands the mother the referral form, Makuoya advises her to keep trying to feed her child even if he seems unwilling to eat.</p><br /><br /><em>Photo: Yolanda Barbera/IRC </em><br /><br />
<p>Zubieda Abdullahi, one of four community health volunteers in the large village of Afacizm, prepares the first dose of a treatment to show this baby&#39;s mother how to give the drugs at home.</p><br /><br /><em>Photo: Yolanda Barbera/IRC </em><br /><br />
<p>Zubieda gives advice to the mother about the importance of completing the course of treatment and not sharing the medication with any other child. Sometimes mothers stop giving the treatment as soon as they feel the child has recovered, and keep the remaining tablets in case any of their other kids fall sick.</p><br /><br /><em>Photo: Yolanda Barbera/IRC </em><br /><br />
<p>Amina Fereja, a community health worker from the village of Amba, shows a mother how to give her child oral rehydration salts and zinc for diarrhea.</p><br /><br /><em>Photo: Yolanda Barbera/IRC </em><br /><br />
<p>Kedija Mohammed, a community health worker from another village, Oura, fills out her register after seeing a malnourished child and his mother. Health volunteers record all of the information about their young patients&#39; cases in these books.</p><br /><br /><em>Photo: Yolanda Barbera/IRC </em><br /><br />
Photo: Yolanda Barbera/IRC

The IRC has trained 11,000 villagers in six countries in Africa to provide lifesaving care for children in their communities who are suffering from malaria and other common illnesses. In the last six years, health volunteers like these women from a remote region of Ethiopia have provided over 1 million treatments to sick children.