Despite all the news about our efforts in Myanmar, Malteser International continues to work on projects throughout Asia. We have great basic information from each of the countries in Asia where we provide relief and rebuilding efforts. You can also view our Asia map with a few of our recent case studies from Asia.

Here are a few recent updates on our efforts. To read more stories and to stay in touch with us, sign-up today for our free monthly newsletter: On The SPOT.

Sri Lanka: Bringing Children Back to Their Families

After one year, Malteser International’s project to reunify children with their families in the district of Galle in the south of Sri Lanka proofs to be successful. Around 21,000 children currently live in orphanages or children’s homes all over Sri Lanka. Most of them are there because their parents are either too poor to care for them or since they expect that their children are better off in these institutions. Only 3% of children in Sri Lankan institutions are orphans without parents.

In cooperation with the Sri Lankan partner organization Sarvodaya, Malteser International used different approaches to address the overall problem: with advocacy and capacity building, the project team tries to convince local decision makers and officers to apply existing laws properly and in favour of the children.

Awareness raising campaigns are organized at village level to inform the communities and their leaders about the advantages of a family-life for the children. At the same time, trained social workers talk to the families to explore other solutions than giving the child away. In selected cases, Malteser International also provides vocational and business training, mostly for the mothers, or even safe and decent housing for the family. Even the change of children homes into day care centers is being prepared so that local alternatives for daily care of children may facilitate the mothers’ need to earn an income.

The Malteser International project team also assessed the case load of children in selected children’s homes to identify either the natural parents, the extended family network or maybe foster families for the deinstitutionalisation of children.

India: Reconstruction after the floods and disaster preparedness

After the severe floods in summer 2007 in the north of India, about 10 million people in the regions Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are still affected by the consequences of the disaster. Together with Indian partners, Malteser International started a new project to assist the people in the area by helping them to reconstruct their life and to be prepared for future floods. During the reconstruction process, the homesteads of 60 of the worst affected vulnerable households are raised and rehabilitated as mitigation measure against flood inundation. By raising hand pumps above the level of the floods, access to safe drinking water is assured also when floods occur. 

Sri Lanka: New project for the prevention of respiratory diseases

In order to prevent the spreading of respiratory diseases like e.g. Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) or SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), Malteser International started a project to develop and test resource materials using a participatory approach for community empowerment in the South of Sri Lanka. Staff members will develop general health and hygiene measures and design a tool kit to educate the communities to protect themselves from influenza. These participatory tools will be field tested and analyzed and recommendations for the utilization will be submitted to UNICEF for wider dissemination in South and South East Asia. 

Thailand: UNHCR finances HIV/AIDS project along the Thai-Myanmar border

Thailand is home to 140,000 Myanmar refugees living in nine camps along the border to Myanmar. Since 1993, Malteser International has been implementing a comprehensive primary health care program for around 31,300 refugees of Karen and Burmese ethnicity in two of the camps. The main activities during the project include the preparation of meetings with camp-based organizations and NGOs, the implementation of HIV/AIDS intervention groups, the training of counsellors and community health workers, the organization of school health education for high school children on HIV/AIDS and the provision of antiretroviral drugs in case of an infection. On World AIDS day, special activities like a drama performance on HIV/AIDS, drawing competitions and the distribution of T-Shirts are planned. 

Vietnam: Renovation of commune health center in Tay Giang

Malteser International is renovating a commune health center to improve the health situation of the villagers in the Tay Giang district in Central Vietnam. Tay Giang is a remote mountainous district in Central Vietnam, the majority of the population are of ethnic minority. The economic conditions, standard of living standard, existing health infrastructure, and the health system for Tay Giang's residents are low. New health equipment and the training of health staff will be provided in the Bhalee commune health center to secure an access to medical treatment for the population in the area.