Central African Republic – SOS Medical and Social Centres

In Central African Republic there are currently two Social Centres and one Medical Centre for children and the local community, in Bouar and Bangui.  Many SOS Social Centres operate via Family Strengthening Programmes, which aim to support the wider community.  Below is some information about the Centres that SOS Children runs in Central African Republic:

SOS Medical and Social Centres around Central African Republic: In-Depth

Bangui

Description of SOS Social Centre/FSP:

An SOS Social Centre has been operating since May 2004 in addition to the medical centre, which can care for up to 550 patients a month. At the social centre 150 children from families in need can be looked after. The centre gives sex education to the people from the neighbourhood and supports those who are affected by the disease and their families with food and medicine, as well as providing financial support to help them pay for their children's school books or make payments on time.

Work and Achievements:

The SOS Medical Centre of Bangui follows its mission of caring for the children of the SOS children’s village of Bangui, the staff as well as the neighbouring community. It is in charge of the medical care of the programme as well as this of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and the Family Strengthening Programme.

In 2009, a total of 1,610 new consultations were done. 2,982 former patients were consulted among whom 498 from SOS children and youths, including 215 girls for new consultations.

Talking about feeding care, the following targets were reached in 2009:

1.      Transmission (HIV) Parents/ Children Programme (TPPC): 88 persons

2.      Under fed children: 658

3.      Women with light weights (breast-feeding and pregnant): 399 persons.

Coming to the medical caring of OCV programme, 891persons were consulted for opportunist infections, 270 are under treatment for CTM (bactrim) and 90 others are treated by ARV drugs.

In the domain of maternal and infantile / Family planning Health, 40 gynaecological consultations, 551 Pre-delivery consultations and 574 family’s planning were done. The SOS Medical Centre of Bangui does not yet have a delivery room. Besides, 183 OCV from the FSP were targeted.

600 medical certificates of different ages were issued. With the spectrophotometer, 2240 tests were done in 2009.

In the frame work of our partnership with state institutions and international humanitarian system, the SOS Medical Centre of Bangui has implemented the project of the Malaria Caring at Home with the assistant of the World Funds in partnership with UNDP.

Bouar

Description of SOS Medical and SOS Social Centre:

An SOS Social Centre and an SOS Medical Centre were opened with the aim of providing medical care to the people in the neighbourhood, informing them about local preventative measures, providing troubled families with social and material assistance and offering counselling regarding child education and career guidance for parents. Intended to help achieve the goal of strengthening families in overcoming poverty, this programme is run in cooperation with the local authorities. The two centres comprise a consultation room, a treatment room, a dispensary and rooms for the director and the co-workers.

Work and Achievements:

SOS Medical Centre Bouar is the last facility constructed in the SOS Children’s Village of Bouar. Its role is of providing medical care to the children of SOS Children’s Villages, its staff, and the surrounding community. 

It opened its doors on December 16, 2009 in the presence of local authorities, among which were the prefect and the deputy.

The technical and administrative team of SOS Medical Centre Bouar consists of 11 staff members.

During its short period of existence, it has already done medical examinations on all the children from the village (a total of 72 consultations).  It also addressed the needs of 15 incoming consultations.

In spite of its newness, SOS Medical Centre Bouar has started to gain a positive reputation in the lo