Rural Health Issues

Abstract

FORMING A COMMUNITY WIDE NETWORK: A STORY OF A HOME-BASED CARE PROJECT THE STORY OF A VOLUNTEER I met Anna Dzimbiri nine years ago when I became involved in the work of the Care Groups (an organisatio teaching health prevention strategies to rural women) in the Tzaneen municipal area. She was one of the first to volunteer to work with us when we started a volunteer home-based care programme. At that stage "we" consisted of a co-coordinator from CHoiCe, a community nursing NGO (who previously trained com- munity health workers of the farms) with four of the NGO's trainers, representatives of the Public health serv- ice from each of the five areas in the municipality and me. THOUGHTS AFTER THE 6TH RUDASA CONGRESS: THE LIVELY BEAT OF DRUMS IN THE MISTY MOUNTAINS OF SABIE The annual RUDASA conference has been the highlight of the year for rural doctors since the first one in 1997.This year was no exception.The programme was varied, the speakers challenging and the discussions lively. As always, the best part was meeting the 'brave hearts' from all over, who despite overwhelming odds, are dreaming up new ways of meeting the challenges of rural health. Louis Jenkins said: "The other conference attendants positively encouraged me away from my growing pessimistic view of South African public medicine, and gave me new hope for the heart and soul of this big machine we find ourselves in." WINNING STORIES FROM RURAL HEALTH WORKERS