The LAHOW team are riding to support health work in Mozambique.  Please see our blog at www.lahow.wordpress.com

One of the team members, Peg, has been working as a doctor in Mozambique for the past 20 years, setting up community health programmes serving some of the most remote and neglected regions of the country.  More recently she’s also been helping people with epilepsy access treatment.  All funds donated to this page will go towards supporting this work. 

Poverty, environmental factors and lack of health knowledge contribute to Mozambique having some of the highest child and maternal mortality levels in the world. Widespread belief that diseases are caused by curses mean people often go to traditional healers rather than health facilities when they fall ill.  Low-skilled, poorly motivated government health staff mean that those who do present at health facilities frequently fail to get the help they need.

As a means of addressing these challenges in a sustainable manner Peg has established a dedicated and dynamic community health team whose members are all local people.  Acting in collaboration with traditional leaders and the government health department this team mobilises communities to work together on health issues, trains community volunteers to provide health education and basic health care and establishes health committees making government health staff more accountable to the population they serve, thereby improving the quality of health services.  These activities have resulted in major improvements in health in the areas in which the team is active.  Both local people and government are requesting that the team expand it’s work to cover more communities. Your support in enabling this would be much appreciated. 

Since 2015 Peg’s been focusing on the provision of treatment
for people with epilepsy.  This condition affects around 1-2 % of the population. Most people, including many health staff, believe epilepsy is caused by curses or demon possession and that it’s contagious.  This has major social consequences, increasing the suffering of those affected. 70% of people with epilepsy can have their seizures completely controlled by regular treatment with medicines costing as little as £5 per year. Peg is training government health staff and community volunteers to change the perception of the condition and make treatment available.

Thank you for your time in reading this. We appreciate your support,

The LAHOW team  

More information on the LAHOW team and how the ride's going can be found in our blog at www.lahow.wordpress.com - comments welcome.

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