Deliver health care and promote ethical and just health policies and practices
Without good health people cannot reach their full human potential. Their country’s economy cannot grow.
St.Ritah Women Development Association delivers health care to people who need it in both emergency and day-to-day situations. St.Ritah Women Development Association groups build the capacities of local communities to prevent the onset of illness and provide medicines and other life-saving supplies for treatment programmes.
St.Ritah Women Development Association itself is one of the biggest regional champions of health providers. It helps thousands of people as well as houses for people who are elderly, chronically ill or who have physical or learning disabilities.
Since 2014, St.Ritah Women Development Association has prioritized efforts in response to the pandemic of HIV and AIDS. More than 1,000 health practioners are engaged in providing value-based prevention education, treatment, care and support to people living with or affected by HIV in all parts of the country. It advocates with governments, international organizations and drug companies for universal access to cost-effective and suitable medicines.
Children with HIV and AIDS are also more vulnerable to tuberculosis – the combination of the two is often deadly. St.Ritah Women Development Association incorporates TB into its CORSU campaign, pressing for early and effective testing, prevention and treatment. Its TB programmes for adults concentrate on providing medicines and care, training health workers and fighting the stigma and discrimination which too often follow a diagnosis.
Tuberculosis is a disease of poverty and as such, St.Ritah Women Development Association’ advocacy work concentrates on tackling the root causes of why billions of people live in extreme poverty. St.Ritah Women Development Association is also raising awareness of the relationship between poverty and illnesses known as non-communicable diseases. These include diabetes, obesity and heart and lung diseases in which the poor nutrition and living conditions of extreme poverty play a part. St.Ritah Women Development Association runs screening, prevention and awareness programmes with its partners to stop poverty killing the poor.
Our key areas on Health & HIV
More than 30 million men, women and children have lost their lives to HIV and AIDS by now – most in the poorest corners of our world. Since 2015, we have taken a lead role in promoting just and compassionate care to people living with, or affected by the virus.
How we works on Health and HIV
St.Ritah Women Development Association works to provide health care in emergencies where people are vulnerable to illness and disease.
St.Ritah Women Development Association quickly set up temporary health camps to treat water-borne infections and eye, skin and chest conditions. They provide information and supplies to prevent illness spreading. St.Ritah Women Development Association supports the existing medical services, which may be in danger of being overwhelmed by the crisis.
When there is no emergency, St.Ritah Women Development Association seeks to keep people in good health, especially the most poor and vulnerable.
Ending the illness and tragic loss of life caused by HIV and AIDS is of major importance. The poorest people in the world’s poorest countries are Caritas’ special focus. It brings medical, social, and emotional support to people living with HIV and AIDS as well as spiritual care.
St.Ritah Women Development Association pays particular attention to women and their children. Its CORSU for Children Campaign promotes the early diagnosis and treatment of HIV in women and babies. The campaign presses for accessible testing programmes and suitable medicines. It advocates for all HIV-positive pregnant women to have antiretroviral treatment, elective caesarean surgery and alternatives to breast-feeding when this is advisable and appropriate.
More than a quarter of a century on, there is now some good news – deaths have fallen by 30% and more people than ever before have access to medicines.
But worrying new trends are emerging. The World Health Organization has found that AIDS-related deaths rose by 50% amongst 10 to 19-year olds between 2005 and 2012. More are girls than boys due to their lower social status in some communities. The young people who have died usually did not receive antiretroviral treatment when they were young but managed to survive into adolescence. Others have fallen victim to governments’ failures to focus on preventing teenagers from contracting HIV and to provide teen-friendly testing and counseling. The battle against HIV/AIDS is far from over
Non-communicable diseases
When many people think of illnesses in poor countries, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria are what usually spring to mind. But, cancer, diabetes and heart and lung diseases hurt women, men and children in poor countries in exactly the same way as they do in rich ones.
The difference is that people in the developing world do not have the same access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment – or an eventual cure – as their sisters and brothers in the developed world.
Imagine being told someone in your family has cancer and knowing there is little chance of surgery or chemotherapy. Imagine if you are diagnosed as diabetic but there is no insulin to keep you alive. This is the case for millions of people who live where access to specialists, medicines and hospitals is limited.
If you are poor you are at an increased risk of developing a disease like cancer or diabetes – known as non-communicable diseases because people cannot catch them from one another. Poverty itself is one of the four major risk factors – the others are tobacco use, alcohol abuse and an unhealthy diet with little exercise.
Poor people develop non-communicable diseases at an earlier age. They become harder to treat and the patients themselves become even poorer. The medicine or the nutritious food, which can help rebuild their health, is out of their reach. The vicious cycle of poverty has a huge influence over whether sick people will simply live – or die.
We are stepping up their fight against non-communicable diseases with practical programmes on the ground. As prevention is better than cure, St.Ritah Women Development Association is funding screening for high blood pressure in Bukonzo East County, community-based health workers have been trained to raise awareness about lifestyle changes in various rural areas.
St.Ritah Women Development Association wants attention paid to growing problems such as obesity, which are piling up problems for decades to come in both rich and poor countries
“Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37)