Half of the population in Central Asia are children. Increasingly malnutrition, diarrhea, and respiratory infections are becoming the main health threats in these developing countries, and as the result one child in 12 dies before the age of one.

JDA recognizes that the major health problems and premature death are preventable through changes in human behavior and at low cost. Community Health Education focuses on training local community volunteers to make home visits where they will share pertinent information related to sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, water purification, first aid, family planning, alcohol and substance abuse, STDs including HIV/AIDS. Lessons are designed to meet the basic health needs of everyone but the primary recipients are women, who are also the providers of healthcare.

JDA

• Trained and conducted health education seminars in sanitation and hygeine and 40 additional general health topics.
• Conducted full community health surveys of children, young mothers and pregnant woman.
• Brought in medical teams for training and performing surgeries with local doctors.
• Provided medicines, supplies and equipment for central regional hospitals in central Uzbekistan and Karakalpakstan.
• Conducted whole comunity Leprosy surveys of more than 70,000 people in the endemic regions of Karakalpakstan.
• Trained national doctors in leprosy identification, treatment and use of multi-drug therapy.