The devastating floods in lower Assam in the month of August-September, 2015, affected around 17,00,000 people all over Assam. In Kokrajhar district 90% of the houses were partially damaged, 8 % were fully damaged and 22% partially damaged as per JRNA-IAG. Infrastructural damages in terms of road connectivity of Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar and Dhubri district were severe. National highway connecting these 3 districts was inundated and closed down by the authority for a week. It was also difficult for the assessment team to reach hubris district for the first week of disaster as bridges were swept away by flood waters.
DFY-NERO carried out heath care response in three districts of Lower Assam i.e. Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Bongaigaon. Health camps were organized in the affected villages and relief camps on basic health needs. The aim of the health camp was to address the basic health needs of the community by adopting a community based approach in organising the camps. The camps were organized at village level with the help of coordination with our local stakeholders like ASHA/ ASHA supervisor and school authority etc. The camps were organised with the active participation of the community stakeholders and ASHA workers of the villages. During these health camps health and hygiene talks were also conducted for the community. During the village level health camps complains of loose stools, cold, cough and geriatric issues were found prevalent. More than 900 patients were treated through these village level health camps. Deworming was conducted for 616 number of people.
Apart from health camps WASH promotion was another prime focus of DFYs response in lower Assam floods. WASH promotion activities were carried out in all the villages and relief camps where health camps were conducted. Demonstration regarding disinfection of wells and tube wells using bleaching powder was shown to the affected community. Water samples from all the assessed areas were collected through H2S kits and all the samples were found to be contaminated both at point of source and point of use. The community was also trained in preparation of stock chlorine solution for disinfecting drinking water along with distribution of chlorine tablets. The health care response in these three districts which included water testing, village level health camps, chlorination; health and hygiene talks, deworming and water, sanitation and hygiene campaign tried to provide basic health care facilities to maximum number of flood affected population and provided services to more than 2000 people within a span of 20 days.
Health camp in Kamrup metro: In the month of March 2016
DFY-NERO in coordination with Alok Prayas, an NGO in the sector of juvenile aid, organized a health camp at Alok prayas’ field office in Kamrup metro. In this camp a total of 96 patients were screened and provided medicines. The patients were screened by doctor from DFY-NERO