Rural Health Check-Up Camps in Developing Countries

At the end of every year, several non-governmental organisations set-up multi-disciplinary health camps to offer free medical services in the remote villages of developing nations. To facilitate better treatments, they also provide free lodging facilities for both the beneficiaries and people tending to them in the inaccessible areas. The idea is to make the healthcare facilities available to one and all by increasing its outreach.

There are a number of experienced and reputed medical practitioners who tend to the ailing patients at a free-of-cost health check-up facility. They offer medical diagnosis as well as impart information about different diseases and their treatment options. One such health facility may cover a number of villages at a time. Here, the patients do not just avail medical services but also get surgical operations done.

The Most Common Ailments

The surgery cases registered at rural diagnostic camps in developing nations are generally associated with eye, appendix and hernia problems as they quite common now-a-days. The doctors pay special attention to the gynaecological issues of women. A specialized team of medical practitioners conducts the health examination of all individuals living in the rural areas and offers them medical advice regarding ailments and existing treatment facilities.

What Do Beneficiaries Get Out of It?

The beneficiaries are provided with facilities related to the diagnosis and cure of illnesses both at diagnostic health camps. They do not just include pathological investigations but gynaecological check-ups, ENT treatment, sonography and X-ray and dental and eye care is also provided. The services are inclusive of OPD and distribution of medicines other than surgeries and treatment. The surgical interventions specifically cover minor orthopaedic surgery, gynaecological operations, ENT surgery, cataract surgical procedure, Appendicitis and being operated on hernia.

Importance of Quality Healthcare

These camps are extending beyond just focusing upon the examination and treatment of patients and relying on health awareness and good health seeking behaviour too. This is because they believe that it is the only thing that can only contribute to the socio-economic development of the country. In the absence of such quality healthcare in the rural and remote locations of developing countries, setting up a regular camp for it seems to be the most viable option.

Medical guidance is necessary in the areas where hospitals and doctors are scarce as there are many people in the world who die in the need of healthcare services. This also includes the maternal mortality rate with many mothers dying during childbirth making medical supervision important for them. Such women are actually ignorant of their bodies and have little or no knowledge about hygiene. Hence, these camps help doctors investigate the cases and make them informed about the real conditions.

Akansha Gupta is an enthusiastic person who is passionate for her work. She is eager to explore new things other than writing blogs which contain helpful information regarding NGOs which organises Rural Health Camps in India

Diagnostic Health Camps for Rural India

It is necessary to keep in good health which the lower strata of society finds difficult owing to their financial problems. Therefore, free diagnostic health camps are being organised frequently in India to conduct general medical check-ups and for heart, paediatric, ophthalmic, skin, ENT, disease and women health examination. There are many government and voluntary organisations that come to the rescue of community members by putting therapeutic camps, health check-ups for diabetes, heart diseases and hypertension.

Immunization Against Diseases

They also arrange for preventive vaccination for immunization against Typhoid fever, Polio and Hepatitis B. They want to increase their outreach in areas which have very less of health infrastructure. The focus is more on taking a follow-up on cases at regular intervals of time. These healthcare programmes help in understanding the basic health related problems along with free distribution of medicines.

Objectives to Fulfil

The main objectives behind rolling out such projects is better reproductive health and child care, awareness about communicable diseases, promote good nutrition in women and children. The non-profit organisations also want to improve personal hygiene and sanitation, promote safe water drinking, capacity building against maternal and infant mortality and build awareness on HIV/AIDS and TB among the young, children, poor and elderly. The intervention is of more help if implemented in rural areas where the level of knowledge and participation is comparatively lower than the urban cities.

Free Check-Up and Aid

Other people can also lend a helping hand in organizing diagnostic health camps in rural areas and contribute to the welfare of society. Camps of such nature are generally put up in urban and rural slums so that the needy can easily avail the health services extended to them. Organisations depute consultants from different disciplines inside these camps along with volunteers who facilitate their smooth functioning. Here, it is seen that the minor concerns are addressed at the local level itself but referrals are made for treatment of the major problems.

Inside a Diagnostic Health Camps

For better understanding, an example of a rural health camp conducted at WAVE City in Delhi NCR with support from the Indo-German Hospital. About 600 families where reached out this way and the camp treated people suffering from skin, anaemia, respiratory and gynaecological problems. Here, villagers turned up in large numbers to receive free medical consultation and aids. You can see several other customized health camps put up in the surrounding areas to offer facilities of similar nature. They provide preventive, curative, referral, promotive and comprehensive health services to numerous people living in the selected intervention areas. The duration of these check-up facilities ranges from 1-15 days a month with frequencies between a month to an entire year.

Akansha Gupta is an enthusiastic person who is passionate for her work. She is eager to explore

Seven Ways People Sabotage Their Health

1. Skipping Breakfast: Breakfast is the most important meal. As you sleep, your body’s metabolism slows down, so when you wake up, your body needs food to run on. Would you expect your car to run on an empty tank of gas? Of course, not–then why do people think running your body without proper fuel? Unlike a car, your body can pull reserve from tissue and blood–however, this puts stress and strain on all organs. When you skip breakfast, your energy level suffers. Although, you think skipping breakfast to cut calories, therefore you can lose or maintain weight, you tend to eat more throughout the day to compensate for your hunger and may gain more weight. Studies have also shown that eating breakfast increases your ability to perform better mentally. For more information on healthy breakfasts visit Eat Right for Your Type. http://www.dadamo.com/

2. Lack of Sleep: Research reveals that most people need at least 8 hours of sleep a night to function optimally. Many people sacrifice sleep in order to have enough hours in the day to get things accomplished. Instead, you need to sacrifice less important commitments and set a regular bedtime to get a full 8 hours in to avoid the effects of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation not only deprives you of energy, it has been linked to weight gain, depression, anxiety, heart disease, and insulin resistance, not to mention the mistakes that occur from limited mental alertness.

3. Smoking: You know that smoking is not just bad–but deadly for your health. The mental health diagnostic manual lists smoking as ‘passive suicide.’ The consequences of smoking include lung and throat cancer, premature wrinkles, an increase in men’s risk of impotence, and complication of pregnancies for women. And these are just some of the consequences of smoking. Nicotine is addictive for many, however, quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for your health. For help to quit smoking see my article, http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Stop-Smoking–For-Good–No-Relapses&id=388788

4. Alcohol–Excess alcohol or high calorie cocktails: Everybody’s got a vice, but some are worse than others. An average margarita has more than 300 calories, or three times the calories in a small glass of wine. Make a toast to low-cal cocktails-Champagne, Spritzer, Red Wine, Light or Regular Beer, Vodka or Gin and Soda. And most importantly avoid drinking to excess.

5. Sacrificing Your Skin for a Little Golden Tan: There is enough information that sun damages your skin, so why do people continue baking themselves in the pursuit of a golden tan? Sun tanning and skipping the sunscreen both increase your exposure to the sun’s harmful rays, which can cause premature aging and even worse, skin cancer. Tanning is simply not worth it. And with today’s tanning products–there is no reason to bake your skin in the sun or a tanning booth.

6. Avoiding Using Weights: Contrary to popular belief, lifting weights will not necessarily make you bulk up, an effect that many people, especially women, want to avoid. It’s true that when you start lifting weights or using a resistance training program, you generally gain a bit of weight before you start to lose it. That is because muscle weighs more than fat. If you want to get in shape, “pumping iron” will make you look trimmer and more toned, and will burn more calories even after your workout is done.

7. Forgetting Hidden Calories: Starbucks lattes and Jamba Juice smoothies might be a daily habit, but you could be consuming nearly all of your calories for the day in just one cup. Gourmet Coffee drinks, smoothies, sodas, juices, and alcohol are all high in calories. If you’re drinking these regularly and not cutting back on your calories from food, you could be consuming up to an extra 1,000 calories a day, which leads to weight gain. Limit yourself to one gourmet liquid treat once a week and drink at least 8 – 8 oz glasses of water a day. Also, processed foods with corn syrup sweeteners or sugar are adding to your calorie intake without your permission. Check labels on all processed foods for corn syrup or sugar content.

Corporate Health, Stealth and Wealth

A personal sense of well being has a huge influence on corporate engagement – their sense of self worth & contribution potential. Engagement has 3 core facets:

• intellectual engagement, or thinking hard about the job and how to do it better

• affective engagement, or feeling positively about doing a good job

• social engagement, or actively taking opportunities to discuss work-related improvements with others at work.

The secret to success – We cannot expect employee performance if not physiologically capable of performance parameters. Implicitly, corporate engagement comes down to – focus, cognitive strength, physical stamina & ability to intellectually process data. Having the ability to not let mind clutter infiltrate & sabotage their thought processes, a sense of power to want to accomplish & prove themselves all contribute to employee performance. if the body is not supporting their drive – they can’t do it and whipping the racehorse by threatening dismissal – nah that doesn’t work either.

There are some fascinating studies on testosterone levels, in both men & women, how these people are advantaged in the workplace, their intense desire to perform & move ahead. Healthy testosterone levels go along with a complete, healthy lifestyle including restorative sleep, good nutrition & a good level of physical activity.

It is very possible that a person’s diet is compromising their body’s production of serotonin, harming the gut understanding how that is affecting their focus, or simply not giving them either focus or strength to perform. People need the ability, the health, the physiological support to be engaged, but unfortunately corporate health programs are too generic, not meeting participants’ needs. Tell me, is the nutritional advice the same for a person who body builds with 10 % body fat vs. someone fearful of exercise & has a body fat of 35%? So… if they ask for a nutrition program… they get the same food guide diet?

A thorough corporate wellness program should cover a full range of health diagnostics & health counseling. Yes weight management, exercise, nutrition… but also smoking cessation, sleep, many forms of stress management, relationship stress, medical risk factors, chronic disease management, disease prevention, self efficacy, but most of all the program has to help the participant to connect the dots. So yes, the program has to be designed for the participant’s own unique combination of lifestyle & health challenges, but also provides an integrative, smooth, embraceable approach helping the participant understand how the challenges are all interrelated. The new approach will provide calm & control, inner peace & power, not be intimidating or intrusive!

A thorough assessor & assessment are extremely key to the success of the program. The 5 “A” s, Ask, Assess, Advise, Assist & Arrange – but each one needs to serve as a template for discovery & trial. It is a journey of discovery, providing deep introspection for the employee & allowing them to build their own program based on their needs. Providers have the potential of discovering issues & triggers that the participant themselves did not fathom the potential as a health saboteur.

In every form of health modification, there is a very strong dose-response relation – targeting focus & impact of the counseling is directly related to success achieving the desired health outcome. Specialized providers through a detailed lifestyle analysis can match the employee to the health coaches best suited for the person, and with the participants permission – coaches in a truly individualized program, can exchange information, ideas, protocol… all to assure consistent messages & support are being provided. The assessor can also perform as a coordinator of the entire program for the participant.

Time: A good program coordinator, provider, health coach knows that “I have no time” is an excuse. Clearly, incorrect programs have been presented before, that were not respectful of time & employee demands. Any program on any topic of health modification, must have an endless supply of creative alternatives for reaching the goal, try them out, tweak, adjust, maybe even back to the drawing board… these are all normal growing pains of a program. We have to have the rapport, the ability to capture the participant’s faith & trust t be willing to try new possibly absurd ideas… that just could work!

Meaningfulness is the most important driver of engagement for people- providing a meaningful program… designed to empower participants to self efficacy & strength, not defeat – that is how we bring out the very best in a person. No more automated superficial programs based on generalized populations – but lets get to each & everyone’s own little ecosystem!

Shira Litwack… proud creator of thousands of health & fitness enthusiasts worldwide
Medical Fitness Professional, Lifestyle & Weight Management Coach, Fitness & Nutrition for chronic illness recovery, online Health & nutritional tracking
Radio Talk Show Host/Producer bestinhealthradio
Director of Health Mentoring & External Resources Canada Obesity Control Center

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