Sri Lanka was devastated by the December 2004 tsunami. The death toll reached 40,000 and nearly one million people were displaced. One year after the tsunami, an estimated 400,000 people have yet to be resettled and more than 275,000 are still without means of supporting themselves. Ampara and Batticaloa Districts in the Eastern Province suffered the greatest destruction and highest death tolls. International Medical Corps has worked diligently to alleviate the suffering of residents and internally displaced populations (IDPs) in the Ampara and Batticaloa districts in the Eastern Province by providing mental health and primary health services and training, implementing livelihood programs and constructing health facilities.
What International Medical Corps is doing
In Kalmunai (Ampara District) and Batticaloa provinces, International Medical Corps worked in coordination with the World Health Organization and the Sri Lanka Ministry of Health to develop and implement a highly regarded mental health program. The end result was a universal mental health curriculum used to train health staff to provide care to tsunami-affected populations. Since the initiation of the program in April 2005:
- Eight Medical Officers have been trained and promoted to Medical Officers of Mental Health by the Ministry of Health; increasing mental health provider capacity and mental health service delivery.
- Ten community mental health centers have been established at seven primary health care centers, providing direct support and treatment to more than 40 mental health patients a month.
- International Medical Corps successfully provided mental health training to 30 public health workers and more than 160 community support workers and midwives in Kalmunai.
- International Medical Corps provided mobile post-emergency primary health care services to IDPs in Kalmunai.
- Ten mobile clinic teams provided life-saving primary health care services to over 8,800 patients in more than 32 IDP camps, as of February of ‘06.
- Livelihoods projects have injected more than $270,000 directly into the local economy and indirectly benefiting nearly 20,500 persons through its cash-for-work and micro-credit programs in Kalmunai and Batticaloa.
- International Medical Corps has conducted business management training for 200 successful micro-credit applicants in Nintavur and a three-day workshop on animal husbandry for 30 women farmers in Thethativu.
- In Sainthamaratu and Karaitivu, International Medical Corps partnered with the Deputy Provincial Directorate of Health Services to construct two Gramodaya Health Centers (GHCs). These rural centers were rebuilt with outpatient departments and staff living quarters, and will provide immunization, growth monitoring, family planning, health education, and mother and child health services to an area inhabited by more than 48,000 beneficiaries.
International Medical Corps’ long-term commitment
- Secure new funding to strengthen its current mental health and livelihood services.
- Extend mobile primary health care services and expand successful psychosocial programs.
- Curb the spread of HIV/AIDS among highly vulnerable subpopulations by strengthening the technical and managerial capacity of local NGOs in the development of an HIV/AIDS strategy and interventions.