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| PROGRAMMES: | ACEH | | | | |
  ACEH Background
The MENTOR Initiative’s program in Aceh Indonesia began as a humanitarian response to the emergency evoked by the massive South-East Asian tsunami.
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| Within the Indonesian archipelago, a debilitating decades-long civil war had already left the province of Aceh in an isolated and under developed state. The earthquake and tsunami of 26th December 2004 had a further devastating effect throughout the area, which was at the epicentre of the wave. The capital city, Banda Aceh, was nearly 50% destroyed and many villages and towns along the west and east coasts were obliterated. More than 170,000 people lost their lives. |
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The Crisis
Accompanying the terrible loss of life caused by the tsunami was the destruction of key healthcare facilities and institutions, creating mass shortages of resources and personnel. Likewise the sudden loss of housing and shelter left thousands of people homeless and vulnerable to mosquitoes, the main vector of both malaria and dengue fever. Furthermore, the influx of seawater from the tsunami, as well as the loss of proper sanitation facilities produced the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and disease, creating pools of brackish and contaminated water.
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| In an area already combating the issue of malaria, these conditions allowed the opportunity for a potentially massive outbreak. |
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The MENTOR Initiative’s response:
On 7th January 2005, in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami, The MENTOR Initiative launched the largest scale malaria and dengue fever emergency control operation ever undertaken. |
The MENTOR Initiative’s fast and effective response ensured the rapid introduction and scale up of access to effective malaria diagnosis and treatment across the tsunami affected districts, and beyond. Besides the provision of healthcare treatment and diagnostic resources, MENTOR’s activities in this endeavour included large scale indoor residual spraying (IRS) campaigns, larviciding, and the provision of temporary shelters and vector control needs (notably insecticide treated plastic sheeting (ITPS) as well as long lasting insect treated nets (LLITNs)). At its peak The MENTOR Initiative had trained and employed over 200 personnel in vector control activities, and managed to successfully spray all of the homes in and around the Banda Aceh area.
The MENTOR emergency response in Aceh following the devastating tsunami was hugely successful and effectively curbed a potentially massive outbreak of malaria. |
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The MENTOR Initiative’s Post-Emergency Response
18 months after the 2004 Tsunami, The MENTOR Initiative’s programme objectives have evolved from an emergency response to a long-term development initiative. The problem in Aceh of malaria and dengue fever existed long before disaster brought the spotlight to the province. Not only is Aceh one of the most distant elements of the diverse Indonesian state but in many ways one of the most neglected. Pre-tsunami public health infrastructure was extremely weak and protocols in operation to deal with health problems substantially out of date. An example being the use of the mono-therapy Chloroquin to deal with malaria when this has long since been superseded worldwide due to virus resistance. Ill-equipped health facilities with untrained staff were still using unreliable and antiquated diagnostic approaches to malaria patients at the time of MENTOR’s arrival in Indonesia. |
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| While many of MENTOR’s activities remain the same, there is increased attention towards long-term results and sustainability, towards a permanent malaria intervention and ideally eradication. With this in mind, The MENTOR Initiative programme in Aceh assists in all areas of malarial intervention, including treatment, diagnosis, vector control, personal protection, epidemic prevention, and operational research. |
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It is the aim of this next phase of MENTOR’s intervention to introduce modern testing and medication, up to date analytical equipment and dedicated training to the local health infrastructure to build lasting sustainability. This would be further complimented by a large scale public education element with a view to providing accurate information and raising awareness to even the most remote and disenfranchised of Aceh's population.
A final, and lasting contribution planned by MENTOR for the province is a comprehensive system of clinical data collection enabling an effective early warning system for epidemic situations.
Besides these new approaches, The MENTOR Initiative Vector Control team continues to fight the spread of malaria through multiple pre-emptive activities, notably larviciding and house-to-house spraying. Along with these activities, the Vector Control team also supplies information wherever possible through educational trainings, instruction and supplies.
The MENTOR Initiative’s development objectives in Aceh will, by design, create a lasting local ability to effectively address the omnipresent threat to the Acehense of malaria and dengue fever. |
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