Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – Today, under quarantine conditions, more than 400 medical volunteers who have received knowledge from UN Volunteers are helping residents of Karakalpakstan to resist coronavirus and other diseases in the region with difficult environmental conditions using the Telegram channel.

“The disappearance of the Aral Sea, once the fourth largest lake in the world, has made adjustments to the lifestyle of the communities of Karakalpakstan,” said Gulnara Japakova, a health specialist. - This also could not but affect the health of local residents. Since 2005, I have been engaged in community mobilization, helping to identify urgent problems of villages. In the course of work with the draft UN Development Program, I faced the task of ensuring human security in the field of health, requiring the attraction of additional assistance. So the idea of training volunteers to visit neighbors, residents of their communities and disseminate information on the necessary measures for the prevention of tuberculosis and other diseases appeared. In a short period of time in 12 communities, we trained 60 such volunteers.

In 2017, I myself joined the UN Volunteers team to coordinate training, this time on the prevention of pulmonary, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular diseases, as well as maternal and child health as part of the UN Joint Program “Strengthening the Resilience of Population Affected by the result of the Aral Sea crisis, through the creation of the Multi-Partnership Fund for Human Security for the Aral Sea region. "

People often ask me how they managed to assemble a team of such responsive people - real volunteers!

“With the support of the Ministry of Health and the Women's Committee of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, district khokimiyats, rural gatherings of citizens, we were able to train over 2080 medical volunteers in 10 districts of Karakalpakstan. We support the interest in regularly updated informational materials, including: training modules, “Healthy family - a happy family” training manuals, household health books, illustrated calendars - guides, posters, leaflets, booklets, as well as all the necessary equipment and tools for convenient and safe work with the population. And on the initiative of the volunteers themselves, in 2018 we created a channel in the Telegram “Volunteers of Karakalpakstan”, where participants share their experiences, the results of meetings held in communities, talk about what difficulties they face and advise how they can be prevented in the future,” Gulnara said.

Today, Gulnara works closely with community medical volunteers in a new role within the framework of the Joint UNDP and UN Population Fund Program "Strengthening the Resilience of Local Communities in the Aral Sea Region to Environmental, Economic Vulnerabilities, and Public Health Issues," funded by the Japanese government.

“Currently, in connection with the pandemic of the coronavirus worldwide, a new theme has been added for our volunteers. I want to note that they reacted very quickly and began to work independently with villagers using materials from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the World Health Organization. Due to general quarantine, in conditions of complete isolation, we are not able to conduct full-fledged trainings. However, to help - a previously created group in the Telegram, which helps fill the gap in this direction. Today, over 400 community medical volunteers are actively working in the group, including medical workers, school teachers, specialists from rural gatherings of citizens, youth and pensioners. We are constantly called by those who do not have access to the Internet, but have a great desire to help. We regularly follow the news in official sources, consult with representatives of the Ministry of Health of Karakalpakstan and share information with volunteers. Those, in turn, compile lists of residents of their communities and daily call families to provide counseling services, learn about the health status of each family member and, if necessary, refer them to the right specialist.

Volunteering gave me a sense of belonging to the life and destinies of people. I became a kind of psychologist, because it was important that they believe me, listen to my recommendations, follow the advice, and most importantly, in a timely manner seek support from the district medical posts if necessary. With every training, with every meeting, I felt that I bring benefits to people, I give them vital knowledge, I become the right person for them. This helped me determine the trajectory of activity in the future, after the end of the project. As it turned out, I was not mistaken.

I think that the current situation in the world clearly demonstrates that volunteering in the field of public health should become the norm in the everyday life of every community.”