LAMB NEWS – DECEMBER 8TH, 2009

For us at LAMB, this past month has been a time with a lot of feel-good things. The lovely dry winter season has arrived, with temperatures of about 20^oC in the daytime and 10^oC at night. Nationally, and for LAMB except for the hospital and community clinic services, it has been a holiday time, as the majority Muslim community celebrates the example of sacrifice. At LAMB, the small US community seemed to expand hugely to celebrate Thanksgiving – we all had a lot to give thanks for. Around us, the second rice crop of the year is almost all safely gathered in. And LAMB itself now feels in a much more secure position than it did only 3 months ago.

The hospital for a couple of weeks has been very quiet. This is normal at Eid holiday time, but this year Eid also coincided with one of the rice harvests. The reaping, the threshing, and the gleaning of fields, is all by hand, and so even in this densely populated land, much of the population is very busy. Those not in the fields, or busy with the threshing, or at rice mills, may be involved in the transport of rice or straw. Rickshaws and trucks are all busy. At LAMB, baby deliveries keep happening, but beyond that, if a health problem can wait, it waits.

While the hospital has been quiet, other parts of LAMB have been very busy.

The Training Centre is at full stretch. Almost all of the training at the moment is related to maternity, with training ranging from 6 months for Community Midwives down to 10 days for Basic Emergency Obstetric Care. There is a huge demand for skilled birth attendants in the country, and their availability is essential if Bangladesh is going to be able to lower the rate of deaths for mothers giving birth. This is one of the global Millennium goals. Maternal deaths in areas where LAMB works are less than half of those in the country overall.

An indication of the increasing importance of the Training Centre is that the Head of Training has just been appointed as a Director. As such, she is one of the executive team with overall responsibilities for LAMB day to day management. The Director team of nine is made up of five Bangladeshis/ four expatriates, and, looking at it another way, five women/ four men.

As a sign of things getting better, LAMB is recruiting new staff again. This is linked to the trial phase of a new project in the MIS-Research Department area and is related to nutrition and heath. At this stage the work is only for a short term contract, but if the project moves to the second phase then staff will be employed for 5 years. The approximately 30 staff involved are mainly out in the community, but a small number are in the MIS-Research Department itself.

The recently started program to realign the foot or feet of children born with club foot is going very well. The program at LAMB uses the Ponseti Method and involves children first wearing plaster casts, around five casts over several weeks, gradually straightening the foot. The children then progress to wearing braces at night for the next 4-5 years to gradually embed the new alignment. The first children treated at LAMB are already out of their plaster casts – with straightened feet – it is marvelous to see them.

For this club foot realignment program, LAMB is supported by ‘Walk for Life’, an organization founded only this year. LAMB has been involved right from its conception, and is helping the national spread of the program. Walk for Life has already make remarkable progress in quickly getting the program introduced in several districts of Bangladesh. The LAMB therapist was away with them for nearly two weeks, both demonstrating techniques, and involved in discussions with the Ministry and with orthopaedic specialists.

With all these developments, as with many others at LAMB, we never stop being amazed at all the people and resources which God has provided to enable us to continue working.