Consultations on charging asylum seekers Healthcare fees published
March 20, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Children who never existed
November 26, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Workers living on a farm settlement about 35km from Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, bury their dead children secretly because parents cannot afford to get them to a clinic or hospital in time.
“The farmer who is running this farm is not paying us our wages and, as a result, there is no way in which we can raise the money to go to clinics or hospitals,” Gerald Campion, 50, a farm worker, told IRIN.
The settlement has two self-appointed “midwives”, who sometimes err in helping pregnant women, resulting in deaths. “People on this farm don’t know how to use contraceptives, and there are so many pregnancies that the women take care of,” Campion said.
Theresa Maphosa, 14, of Hopley Farm, a makeshift settlement 10km outside Harare, has been left to tend her sick six-month-old brother after their mother died of bleeding while giving birth. Her father is unemployed and cannot afford to take the infant to hospital, and their neighbour, Nesia Simukayi, is afraid that the infant will die soon.
The plight of the farm workers illustrates the grim scenario portrayed in a new survey by the government and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), indicating that access to vital social services for women and children is worsening.
A hundred children younger than five years die every day, mostly of preventable diseases like pneumonia, HIV/AIDS and diarrhoea, said UNICEF.
The Multiple Indicator and Monitoring Survey (MIMS) noted a 20 percent increase in the number of deaths of children aged under five years since 1999, particularly those in rural areas and vulnerable communities with low income.
The survey in May 2009 found that one in every two pregnant women in rural areas was delivering at home, 39 percent across the country did not have access to requisite medical facilities, “while 40 percent were not attended to at birth by a skilled attendant, posing huge dangers for both mothers and newborns”.
The poorest were also finding it more difficult to access health services, which had severely deteriorated during Zimbabwe’s 10-year economic crisis, said Tsitsi Singizi, UNICEF Zimbabwe’s communications officer.
Even though the MMIS report painted a gloomy picture, “As UNICEF, we hope that the report will be used to identify areas of need and mobilize the necessary resources,” Singizi told IRIN.
“We are concerned that the trend whereby standards of living continue to fall is bad news regarding the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals but with the right attitude, we can achieve them.”
Farms were hard hit by droughts and the fast-track land-reform programme, launched in 2000, and have been unable to produce enough food to feed the country.
The US-based Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET) reported in September that Zimbabwe faced a cereal shortage of between 180,000 metric tons and 370,000 metric tons, making it difficult for vulnerable communities to access adequate nutrition.
A Civilised Society: Mental Health Provision for Refugees and Asylum-seekers in England and Wales
November 17, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Restrictive policies on healthcare, education,accommodation, welfare support and employment are functioning to socially exclude and marginalise refugees and asylum-seekers, both exacerbating existing mental health problems and causing mental distress.
Current government policy is inherently contradictory. On the one hand mental health policy recognises the increased vulnerability of asylum-seekers and refugees and the need to support them. On the other hand asylum and immigration policy creates an environment which is having a devastating impact on the mental health, wellbeing and long-term integration prospects of refugees and asylum-seekers.
Mind’s latest research has found that despite experiencing high levels of mental distress, refugees and asylum-seekers face many challenges accessing mental health services in England and Wales.
http://www.mind.org.uk/assets/0000/5696/Refugee_Report_1.pdf
Life getting harder for Mogadishu displaced
November 11, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
 Photo: Mohamed Garane/IRIN  |
| An internally displaced person in Somalia (file photo) |
Heavy rain, lack of medical services, few latrines and reduced aid have worsened the plight of the growing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) camping on the outskirts of Mogadishu, sources said.
“We have two clinics in the area covering over 30 camps, with an average population of 550 families (3,300 people) per camp,” Hussein Ali Mohamed, a doctor with the UK-based charity Islamic Relief, said.
“I am seeing more and more cases of malnutrition and water-related diseases,” he added. “There are not enough latrines and those that there are, are being used by three or four times the number of people they were designed for in 2007.”
“You have people weakened by lack of food and poor health with minimum shelter,” Mohammed told IRIN on 9 November, adding that the main problems were respiratory tract infections and diseases related to malnutrition.
“Yesterday [8 November], a two-year-old boy weighing 3.5kg was brought to the clinic… Normally he should have weighed over 10kg. Unfortunately, that is becoming more frequent than in the past.”
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates there are some 900,000 IDPs in the Mogadishu-Afgoye corridor. Virtually all of them are in camps of one sort or another.
Asli Aden, a 30-year-old mother of four, has been an IDP in the Arbiska area, 20km south of Mogadishu, since 2007. While visiting the clinic with her sick child, she told IRIN that life in the camps was becoming even more difficult.
Food aid cut
In 2007 when she first came to the camps, her family used to get 100kg of sorghum, 10kg of beans, 10kg of porridge and 3ltr of cooking oil each month from aid agencies.
“First they reduced it [sorghum or maize] to 75kgs per month, and about four months ago they cut all food aid by half so that we now get 37kg of maize or sorghum, 5kg of beans, 5kg of porridge and 1.5ltr of cooking oil,” she said. “Now, we don’t get oil or beans. I don’t know what we will do but it is getting harder and harder to feed the children.”
The plastic sheeting covering her makeshift home also had so many holes in it that it no long provided shelter from the rain. “Some nights, when it rains, we have to move to the corrugated-iron sheet latrines for shelter,” she explained.
Aid agencies in Somalia have recently said they needed more money but some donors are holding back, concerned at where resources might end up in areas too dangerous for international staff.
Many IDPs also used to go to Mogadishu to look for work and return to the camps with some earnings to supplement aid handouts. “Now because of the deteriorating security conditions many are afraid to go,” Jowahir Ilmi, head of local NGO Somali Women’s Concern, said.
Refugees ‘need better mental healthcare’
November 6, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
The mental health of refugees and asylum seekers is being made worse by UK detention centres and complex asylum and immigration processes, according to the charity Mind.
It reports that lack of support and resources is triggering mental health problems and making existing conditions worse.
It says denying refugees access to NHS services and treatments, and restrictive healthcare, education, accommodation and employment policies, are further marginalising people caught up in the system.
In particular, it says, primary care trusts and local authorities need to do more to liaise with refugee community organisations to develop culturally appropriate services.
Mind spokesman Marcel Vige said: “Accessing services is hugely difficult for a wide range of reasons, from language barriers to the stigma surrounding mental health, and this further marginalises them to the isolated fringes of society.
“While we came across some excellent examples of tailored services for refugee and asylum seekers, a vast number are not getting much needed help.”
Taremeredzwa’s scan results show growth of second tumour
October 3, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Eighteen year old Zimbabwean girl Taremeredzwa Nomatter Mapungwana’s scan results showed a second tumour growing because she has not been eating and drinking well for long.
She has a rare disease known as cemento-ossifying fibroma. It is a hard fibrous growth that continues to enlarge, sometimes to very significant size, unless treated, most frequently seen in the jaw or mouth, sometimes in connection with a fracture or another type of injury. Treatment is by surgery. Doctors describe the condition which is disfiguring her facial bones as a non-cancerous aggressive benign tumor.
Nomatter arrived in London on Thursday morning accompanied by her family members and was admitted to The Royal London Hospital.
She is anaemic and needs nutritional supplements to boost her nutritional status before surgery. She is currently on blood transfusion.
Appeal
Girl Child Network Worldwide, a charity founded by CNN Hero of the Year nominee Betty Makoni in 1998 initiated the Tare Appeal with four volunteers. There was an overwhelming response to the appeal with individuals and organisations from around the world generously donating money to the tune of £10 000. That amount covers her travel, accommodation and medication expenses. The life-saving operation will be carried out by surgeons at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
Nomatter was a bright A’ Level student at St David’s Girls High School in Mutare until she was struck down by the disease and forced to quit in June. Her dream was to become a dermatologist after topping her class in Maths, Biology and Chemistry.
A nurse attends to Taremeredzwa
Donations
More money is needed to meet further medical treatment costs. An appeal box has been placed in her hospital room.
Meanwhile, a Tare We Care fund-raising gig has been organised. It will be held in Stratford on Friday 09 September 2009 at Escape Club. Top musicians like Jusa Dementor, Chris Kusema and Afroface are billed to perform. Visit the Facebook link for more details about the show.
To donate please visit the Girl Child Network Worldwide website. 100% of your donation will be given to her family.
Donations can also be deposited in the following bank account:
Bank: Lloyds TSB
Branch: Southend-On-Sea
Branch Code: 309784
Account Name: Girl Child Network Trust Fund UK
Account No.: 03872848
SWIFT Code: LOYDGB21100
A committee has been set-up to be provide logistical support. For more details you can contact the following:
Betty Makoni: 07866154860 gcnworldwide@btinternet.com
Priscillah Nyathi: 07956024117 priscillanyathi@yahoo.co.uk
Munashe Moyo Gudo: 07795233614 munashe@zimteachers.com
Barbara Nyagomo Mambo : 07717164590 babsnyag@yahoo.co.uk
Click here to visit Tare’s Facebook page
View Taremeredzwa – My Story – You Tube video
Blow to Black mental health in Birmingham
October 2, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Rebecca Wood
A petition is to be delivered to Downing Street in protest at the forced closure of Birmingham’s only Black-led community mental health service.
Omnicare, a provider of mental health services to Birmingham’s Black community for a quarter of a century, will close its doors to patients after a two-year battle with Birmingham City Council to stay open. A group of people who have benefited from its services plan to deliver a 500-signature petition to Downing Street on 9 October 2009 in a last ditch attempt to draw attention to the loss of what they argue is a vital service to the community.
Omnicare was set up to plug a care gap that had left many Black mental health patients in Birmingham destitute once they were discharged from hospital. It did so through a ten-bed hostel and a drop-in day centre.
Smear allegations
In the course of the two-year fight, allegations have been levelled at the Council by patients, campaigners and staff that it used the death of a hostel resident in September 2007 to damage the organisation’s reputation and to abruptly withdraw funds without consulting the service’s users.
IRR News tried to contact Birmingham City Council’s Third Sector Partnership Team about this allegation but no one was available for comment.
A safeguarding order, issued at the time of the death (and which saw long-term residents moved from the hostel under safety concerns, despite appeals to stay) was recently lifted by the Council. An inquest at the beginning of this year found that the resident concerned died of natural causes and that Omnicare had acted responsibly and could not have prevented the death.
Yet for Omnicare’s General Manager, Jackie McLean, the lifting of the order came too late for an organisation which has, ‘for two years, been living under a cloud’ hindering the possibility of seeking alternative funding from other sources. According to McLean, Birmingham City Council has never been able to adequately explain why it abruptly ceased its funding despite the fact that an investigation into the cause of death was ongoing.
Applying for funding
At the same time as the resident’s death and revocation of funding, the Third Sector Commissioning process was introduced in Birmingham and Omnicare began the application process for funding as a commissioned service provider.
It found the funding application process, replete with a lengthy application form and complicated costing requirements, very hard to deal with. Jackie McLean explains: ‘For a service that has been severely underfunded for years, we struggled with the hefty application. For us to calculate the costing of our services we would have had to get consultants in – something we definitely couldn’t afford. So we had to do it ourselves.’
In September 2008, the application was rejected, with the Council citing the safeguarding order as a factor in their decision. Omnicare’s long-term link as a provider of residential care and support for Birmingham’s mental health patients had been, apparently, finally severed.
Residents take the Council to court
During this two-year period, a group of seven residents and patients, shocked by the threat to a service they trusted and valued, sought their own advice about the legality of the enforced closure.
They took the Council to court and won a stay of execution on the grounds that the Council had failed in its legal duties to conduct a Race Equality Impact Assessment or to take into account the consequences of shutting down Omnicare’s services. Forced into a corner, the Council extended funding until September 2009.
Elvera Wallace, who was a regular client of Omnicare and a member of the group fighting the threatened closure, said at the time of the court case: ‘We felt we had to try and do something to help save the service. We knew what the council were doing to us wasn’t right.’
Destitution fears
Matilda MacAttram of Black Mental Health UK, which has campaigned alongside Omnicare, said: ‘Birmingham is the largest metropolitan authority in Europe yet there aren’t any other Black-led mental health services on the ground. The work that Omnicare is doing won’t be replaced once it closes and there is a real fear that its service users will be left destitute.’
MacAttram also commended the work of Omnicare, saying that it provided a unique service where patients were ‘not being demonised, not being restrained. Instead people were being treated with love and compassion.’
Sadly, Birmingham’s only Black-led community mental health service will be forced to close its doors to its 120-registered clients, amidst very real fears for the devastating effect this closure will have on the safety and well-being of its regular users and residents.
If you would like to sign Omnicare’s petition, due to be delivered to Downing Street on Friday 9 October 2009, please contact: Jackie McLean (General Manager), Omnicare Community Services, 63 Heathfield Road, Handsworth, Birmingham B19 1HE. Telephone: 0121 554 4755.
BME Mental Health Consultation
September 22, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Please Have Your Say!
Why is New Horizons so important?
Around one in six of us experience a mental health problem at any one time and the cost to society is rising. The ten-year national service framework (NSF) for mental health, which has helped to transform services, ends later this year. In its place, we need a new and equally powerful approach to continue to improve mental health care and mental well-being. Poor mental health disproportionately affects BME communities as the statistics readily back up. Within BME communities some sections of the community are faring worse than others with asylum seekers and refugees increasingly suffering additional mental health difficulties following previous traumatic experiences. These figures are unacceptable and more needs to be done to ensure adequate services are available.
Poor mental health is a national concern of real economic significance. Mental ill-health also has a personal impact on relationships, jobs and physical health. Mental health problems are estimated to cost the nation £77bn a year. Improving mental well-being and mental health services will benefit society both financially and socially.
New Horizons moves the agenda forward proposing a cross-Government, multi-agency alliance to tackle the root causes of poor mental health and get support to people where and when they need it most. It has taken 18 months to get the document ready for consultation and what you say matters as once New Horizons is finalised, it will shape and support both national and local mental health initiatives.
The consultation runs from 23 July to 15 October 2009
BEAM has organised a regional consultation event which is being sponsored by NHS East Midlands so that BME organisations can have their say about the future of mental health services. We are working in partnership with the African Women’s Empowerment Forum and Co-operative Community Action in Nottingham and Voice4Change England and Race on the Agenda Nationally.
Please attend the event which takes place on the 1st October 2009 at Hyson Green Youth Club. See flyer and booking form for further details.
Consultation documents are available from:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_103144
White House stiffens against illegal immigrants
September 12, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — The White House strengthened its stand against health care coverage for illegal immigrants Friday, and a pivotal Senate committee looked ready to follow its lead.
The developments reflected a renewed focus on the issue in the days since a Republican congressman’s outburst during President Barack Obama’s health care speech to Congress on Wednesday night. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted “You lie!” as Obama said illegal immigrants wouldn’t be covered under his health plan.
Democrats had pointed to provisions in House and Senate legislation that prohibited illegal immigrants from getting federal subsidies that would be offered to lower-income Americans to help them buy insurance.
That didn’t go far enough for Wilson or many other Republicans, who noted the absence of any enforcement mechanism or requirement for verification of legal status. There are some 7 million illegal immigrants in this country who lack health insurance, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
The issue has caused heat on talk radio and at congressional town halls, too. So on Friday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs sketched a new position that goes even further than some conservative critics had demanded: Obama will oppose letting illegal immigrants buy insurance through new purchasing exchanges the government will set up — even from private companies operating within the exchanges.
“Illegal immigrants would not be allowed to access the exchange that is set up,” Gibbs said. Verification requirements are “something we’d work out with Congress,” he said.
Currently illegal immigrants are barred from government-funded care except in certain emergency cases, but many buy private insurance and there’s nothing to prevent them from doing that. That would change under the White House’s proposal, which is certain to alarm some on the left.
White House officials contended that the policy didn’t represent a change of position for Obama, but it’s one he apparently hasn’t articulated in the past. In his speech Wednesday, Obama said only that “the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”
The proposed new marketplace, or exchange, would allow consumers and small businesses to shop for insurance and compare prices in a regulated, competitive environment. The exchange has been built into all the health bills moving through the House and Senate.
Private companies could offer health coverage through the exchange if they meet certain criteria and if Congress created a new government-run plan that would be offered through the exchange, too.
Illegal immigrants were to be allowed in the exchange and even in the public plan if they used their own money under legislation that passed three committees in the House and one in the Senate. Before Friday, there was little indication that that would change, even in the crucial Senate Finance Committee, which is facing a deadline of early next week to complete a comprehensive health bill.
In explaining its new position, the White House said that illegal immigrants could continue to buy insurance in the private insurance market outside the exchange, which would shrink with the creation of the exchange but still exist.
The issue of illegal immigration also bedeviled the so-called Gang of Six of three Democrats and three Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, who met Friday trying to reach elusive bipartisan agreement on that and other contentious issues.
One of the negotiators, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said that after Obama’s speech the group revisited its illegal immigrant provisions to make sure legislative language would enforce requirements for people to have valid Social Security numbers before getting government-subsidized coverage.
“What we are trying to prevent is anyone who is here illegally from getting any federal benefit,” Conrad told reporters. He didn’t specify whether illegal immigrants would be allowed into the exchange, but Friday evening, a Democratic Finance Committee aide said that although nothing was finalized, the committee was expected to follow the White House’s lead and bar illegal immigrants from the exchange.
Finance Committee aides will be working through the weekend to finalize language on illegal immigration and other issues, including abortion, medical malpractice and how much states must pay for a Medicaid expansion.
It could become clear as early as Monday, when the group next meets, whether Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., gets the bipartisan deal he’s been seeking for months.
LASS Training Sessions [September - December 2009]
1-)HIV SESSIONS
There are three sessions for people who want to know more about HIV.
SO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HIV? WEDNESDAY 14TH OCTOBER 1-4PM
Objective: To provide in-depth information and knowledge about HIV, Testing and Early Detection.For people who want a deeper understanding and more clinical knowledge. A Rapid HIV test willbe available on the day.
Trainer: Luke Pringle – HIV Specialist Nurse
AN INTRODUCTION TO HIV. WEDNESDAY 28TH OCTOBER 1-2PM
Objective: To provide an introduction to HIV including HIV Testing. For people who need an overview and some key facts and information. A Rapid HIV test will be available on the day.
Trainer: Luke Pringle – HIV Specialist Nurse
LUNCHTIME STATISTICS AND TRENDS – WEDNESDAY 2ND DECEMBER 1PM – 2PM
Objective: To provide an update of the latest local HIV Statistics and Trends which we can use toinform our awareness and outreach work.
Trainer: Nia Reeves – Leicester City NHS
STIS AND HEPATITIS {Wednesday 18TH NOVEMBER 1.30PM – 4PM}
This session will provide information about Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and Hepatitis and their mode of transmission and prevention.
Objective: To provide general information about STIs and Hepatitis which participants can use to inform their client groups and co-workers as well as increase personal knowledge. This is for anyone who needs facts and information about STIs or Hepatitis in their work, volunteering or for personal interest
Trainer: Celia Fisher – LASS
2-)HIV, STIGMA AND DISCRIMINATION
WEDNESDAY 11th November and 9th December 2009 1.00 – 4.30PM
The session will provide information on HIV/AIDS and look at practical ways of addressing stigma and discrimination.
Objectives: To provide information about HIV, learn about and discuss the nature of stigma and discrimination in relation to HIV. To discuss and explore the impact of HIV stigma on individuals and the damage caused by people who stigmatise.
To explore ways that individual and collective interventions can help reduce HIV stigma and discrimination within various settings
Trainer: Geoff Lilley – LASS
HIV, ASYLUM & IMMIGRATION {WEDNESDAY 4th November 2009} 1.30 – 4.30PM
This session will enable participants to have an understanding of Asylum and Immigration implications for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.
Objectives:
To provide basic information and facts about HIV, with a focus on aspects related to or affected by asylum and immigration.
To provide information on the definitions and process related to asylum and immigration and explore issues and problems that people in this process may face.
Explore and discuss what measures and actions we, as individuals and as workers, can take. Find out about the Leicester City of Sanctuary movement.
Trainers: Celia Fisher (LASS) and Gill Buttery (or other) from Leicester City of Sanctuary.
3-)ROUND THE FIREPLACE
SATURDAY 7TH NOVEMBER 2009 1.00 –5.00 PM
“Round the fireplace” is an interactive session that will use mime, dialogue, music and storytelling to discuss freely and openly about HIV and stigma. Let us understand Stigma; the root cause; the effects and a way forward as a community in responding to HIV Stigma.
We will have a shared lunch at 1.00. Session will start at about 1.30pm.
Trainer: Musi Gloriosa Katerere
January – April 2010
Information and dates for the sessions in the ‘Spring’ term will be available in December 2009.
Please let us know if there are particular sessions you would like to see in the programme.
4-)LASS TRAINING APPLICATION FORM
An application form can be used to book a place on the LASS training programme.
To get one please contact:
LASS Training Bookings
The Michael Wood Centre
53 Regent Road
Leicester
LE1 6YF
e-mail: training@lass.org.uk
Tel: 0116 255 9995
Fax: 0116 255 9979
Website: www.lass.org.uk
