Heart to Heart

The ICHA Blog

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Reflections by Sujatha Sankaran on October 8, 2009 | 0 comments

As I reflect about the past couple of weeks and ICHA’s progress during our first outreach, I am inspired, grateful, almost giddy about our success.  We have been very fortunate.  Health workers, community members, chiefs, local media—everyone has been welcoming and receptive.  People in this community seem genuinely engaged and interested, eager to be educated and to educate others about the suffering caused by preventable non-communicable diseases.  Everyone has a story—an obese aunt, a hypertensive grandmother, a brother whose leg was amputated due to a diabetic foot ulcer.  ICHA’s core values, empowerment through education, the power of prevention, community involvement, have all been at the forefront during this outreach.

But, as I step back from the warmth and affirmation of this amazing community, I realize that we have our work cut out for us.  Chronic diseases are not simple illnesses that can be cured with a pill or a pamphlet.  Lifestyle interventions involve changing the way people think about their bodies, their lives, the role of health care and the ability to really effect change in their own lives.  In the developed world, most people know that tobacco abuse is harmful, that obesity will shorten their lives, that diet and exercise are vital.  And yet, the rates of obesity are skyrocketing, and cardiovascular disease is still the number one cause of death in the world.

 

 

This is the challenge and promise of ICHA.  Our modus operandi is education.  We see the power of showing an individual how simple changes in her diet will improve her quality of life tremendously, the effectiveness of teaching a health worker to give inexpensive anti-hypertensive medications to prevent strokes and heart attacks from ever happening, the importance of teaching in the schools, in the churches, and in the community.  But while education is vital, we also have to find a way to translate education into action, to incorporate into communities and better understand how people can live more healthy lives.

So, as ICHA takes a moment to breathe and to bask in the affirmation of a very successful outreach in Ghana, we must also take a moment to respect the ambitious nature of what we’re trying to do, and to reflect on the tremendous challenges that lie ahead.