This year AEGON has chosen to support Médecins Sans Frontières
(Doctors Without Borders/ Artsen zonder Grenzen) instead of sending
Christmas cards to all their employees. Given the fact that India
is an important growth market for AEGON, they have decided to
support our project in conflict-ridden Manipur, a remote and
neglected state in the northeast of India.
Introduction
Despite the explosion of the free market
economy in India's booming cities, more than half of all Indians
still live in rural areas. About 300 million Indians live on less
than $1 a day. Poverty is at its worst in rural areas and is often
accompanied by high levels of illiteracy and poor health. Millions
in India do not have access to basic health care. Hundreds of
thousands suffer the fallout of multiple violent conflicts, which
only serve to accentuate the existing health care vulnerabilities
within the country. Having shed its old commitment to
state-directed socialism, critics argue that the Indian state is
failing to provide the most basic necessities to its poorest
citizens: health care, education, and drinking water.
Médecins Sans
Frontières (MSF) in India: focus on conflict
areas
Since 1999 MSF has been active in India. We
work in Kashmir (1 and 2), Manipur (3) and Chhattisgarh (4)
providing basic health care to some of the country’s most neglected
communities in conflict-ridden areas.
In Kashmir we provide basic health care and
psychosocial counselling to a population traumatised by over 20
years of violence in the valley. In Chhattisgarh, where MSF is the
only international humanitarian organisation, we strive to reach
those who have been isolated by conflicts between the State and
Maoist guerrilla groups, and thus have restricted access to health
care.
In Manipur, where MSF is the only organisation
with a permanent expatriate presence, we provide basic healthcare
and HIV/AIDS care to a population affected by continuous
violence.
Violence in Manipur
Culturally distinct, politically neglected and
geographically isolated, this area is notorious for its many
insurgencies, dating back to independence in 1947. The conflict in
Manipur involves various armed groups, constituted mainly along
tribal affiliations, fighting for competing sovereign homelands. In
addition, there have been periodic clashes between different ethnic
and religious groups, fighting for control of resources and
territories.
The 358 km border that Manipur shares with
Myanmar is instrumental in shaping conflict in the state. Myanmar
is the second largest producer of opium in the world and a major
conduit for arms smuggled from Southeast Asia. These illicit
economies have a symbiotic relationship with local insurgent groups
that has resulted in the widespread availability of inexpensive
narcotics and spawned large numbers of injecting intravenous drug
users. AIDS has followed closely. A recent population-based survey
revealed Manipur to have one of the highest HIV prevalence rates of
any state in India.
The MSF project in
Manipur
The MSF project in Manipur started in 2004.
Aside from providing basic health care and HIV/AIDS care, MSF plays
an important role as a neutral foreign organisation that is
unaffiliated with local tribes and political structures. This has
resulted in widespread community support and has been instrumental
in ensuring the security of the team and the continuity of project
activities.
Patients are coming from increasing further
distances to access the MSF services, including neighbouring
districts and even from Myanmar. Currently, the project runs one
outpatient clinic in Churachandpur town, two mobile clinics and two
fixed clinics in outlying villages. All clinics are fully
integrated, combining basic health care, HIV/AIDS treatment and
mental health activities. The project team consists of a team of
five expats and 90 national staff. The well-qualified and motivated
Manipuri national staff allows the project to carry on complex
interventions that would not be possible in other settings.
'It gives new hope to people to know that
HIV/AIDS can be treated, just like another infectious disease. To
know that people can lead a normal life, despite the fact that they
have the virus.'
Ria Temmerman, project coordinator Manipur
November 2008
Important developments & results
In July 2008 Indian forces and militants in
Manipur signed an agreement to suspend operations. Because of this
the population is becoming very optimistic about restoration of
peace and development in the State. Nevertheless, in 2008, Manipur
was still confronted with significant violence (considerable
numbers of killings, abductions and explosions). MSF continued to
offer integrated basic health care and HIV treatment, including
mental health and tuberculosis (TB).
In 2008, the MSF team in Manipur has, among
other things:
- Carried out 33,926 outpatient consultations,
including 11,364 antenatal visits.
- Cared for 770 HIV positive patients.
- Provided counseling and mental health support
for 213 patients.
- Diagnosed 137 patients with tuberculosis, 79
who were co-infected with HIV and started them on treatment.
- Treated 19 victims of sexual violence and
provided them with counseling.
- Treated 147 children for severe
malnutrition
- Delivered preventative treatment for 44
babies who were HIV positive.
MSF’s programme in Manipur is a successful
relevant programme, providing medical care in an area where such
care had not existed. Our presence is instrumental in challenging
the notions of what is safe and possible to implement in this
region. Now, influenced by MSF’s presence, government services have
started for HIVAIDS and increased in primary health care.
These improvements have enabled MSF to start
to plan expanding our programme to areas of greater
need.
AEGON, thank you so much for your
support!
More information
AEGON:
Marjolein Dekker, Corporate Communications
Manager AEGON N.V.: marjolein.dekker@aegon.com
or +31-70-344 89 56.
Médecins Sans Frontières:
Gerbren Deves, Manager Corporate Relations:
gerbren.deves@amsterdam.msf.org
or +31-20-520 87 69.