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HEAL Africa provides holistic care for the people of Democratic Republic of Congo
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Research at HEAL Africa December 2010

We have highlighted a different program of HEAL Africa each month of 2010. Why are there so many different initiatives and programs? Because the situation in Congo has been changing, because the staff of HEAL Africa is Congolese and rooted in the milieu, and because they work with the patients, the villagers, and the leaders in a dynamic process.  How does this happen? It starts by asking good questions. 

research [ri-surch, ree-surch] - noun: diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation inot a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications, etc.

Nicole D'Errico, a researcher from the University of Florida who has been working with HEAL Africa, writes this about the importance of research at HEAL Africa and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):

Health issues in eastern DRC can feel limitless to the Congolese living in a war-torn reality.  Doing research provides the opportunity to draw boundaries around the seemingly limitless.  Problems are named, their scope understood, the next steps articulated.  This demarcation is critical before a plan of action can be drafted.

Make no mistake about it, research is not a silver bullet.  It does not inherently possess the capacity to heal wounds.  But it is step one.  Without it, there can be no step two.

Health issues in eastern DRC can feel limitless to the Congolese living in a war-torn reality. Doing research provides the opportunity to draw boundaries around the seemingly limitless.

HEAL Africa's Safe Motherhood Initiative wanted to understand the question "why don't more women deliver in clinics or hospitals?" The Safe Motherhood team undertook a project to evaluate what kinds of changes were made in communities they worked in - from biomedical (more people giving birth in the hospital) to perceptions about birth (men thinking that "weak" women go to the hospital to give birth). The barriers they discovered  helped them create a program that addressed all of the issues: unsafe practice and ill-equipped clinics, lack of money to pay for service, disdain from the mother-in-law for delivering in a clinic, and no one to care for the children and husband at home.   They continued to carefully monitor the changes in community, and more specifically reductions in maternal mortality and increases in women delivering with skilled birth attendants and/or  in a clinic or hospital.

The results were staggering. By understanding the issues that prevented women from having a safe delivery, they were able to create programs adapted to the needs of specific communities, and dramatically reduce maternal mortality rates in the areas they were working. Solid research leads to solid health outcomes.

This holiday season, will you join us in building a stronger future for the Democratic Republic of the Congo by helping to support this life-changing work?  Your gift will keep innovation and great services are at the forefront of HEALS Africa's programs, and keep providing the care so desperately needed.