Contributor: Samyra Roder

Dr. Hasan Hojiev (right) conducts a training on Integrated Management of Childhood Illness for his colleagues at a village clinic in northern Tajikistan. Photo: Samyra Roder/Mercy Corps

Dr. Hasan Hojiev gestures passionately as he speaks about childhood illness and nutrition. He exudes the bubbly enthusiasm of a fresh medical graduate, but has been a rural pediatrician in northern Tajikistan for over ten years now. Dr. Hojiev’s passion for medicine was revived and his professional outlook transformed after participating in an in-depth training on Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI).

Working closely with the Tajikistan Ministry of Health, Mercy Corps offers IMCI education to rural health providers who lack the resources or opportunity to update their practices. The IMCI approach aims to reduce child mortality and illness by training doctors, physician’s assistants and nurses to approach patient care holistically. During the 5-6 day long training, health providers discover the value of preventative care, gain expertise in proven diagnostic techniques, and learn how to better consult parents on childcare. After being evaluated by professional trainers, participants are awarded with a government-approved certificate in IMCI.

“In the village, people don’t know about specialized medicine. All they know is ‘you are a doctor, you have to help us'’,” explains Dr. Hojiev. After the IMCI training, he felt better prepared to respond to his community’s needs and provide more comprehensive pediatric care.

But Dr. Hojiev wanted to do more than just improve his own practice. Having seen the benefits of IMCI, he decided to organize another training for the medical staff in his local clinic. He was provided with learning materials and guidance by Mercy Corps, as well as support from local leaders. Fifteen doctors and physician’s assistants came together to learn from their colleague, volunteering their free time to help improve the quality of care at their clinic. In his lectures, Dr. Hojiev focused on how to apply IMCI to tackle the toughest childhood illnesses in the area — acute respiratory infections and diarrhea.

Dr. Hojiev has already seen the change in his village. With newfound confidence, medical staff are effectively communicating with their patients; mothers are loyally following doctors’ treatment plans; and children are being brought to the clinic for follow-up.

Dr. Hojiev is eager to continue teaching. Now, he is planning a seminar for young mothers and midwives about breastfeeding and nutrition.

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Mullah Salohideen is a passionate public health promoter and active member of his local Village Development Committee (VDC) in Mastcho, Tajikistan. Photo: Samyra Roder/Mercy Corps

“It’s a sin to live a passive life. If you see a blind man walking towards a well, it’s your duty to say something,” Mullah Salohideen said with conviction — looking up from studying a brochure on childhood illness in the village clinic’s only empty room.

The local religious leader continued to speak passionately about the chief health concerns in Mastcho district of Northern Tajikistan, interspersing public health quips with Qur’anic references and poetic proverbs. Within minutes, it became clear that his philosophy of moral responsibility goes far beyond words.

As a locally-respected voice on Islam, tenured history teacher and active community member, Salohideen is the ideal public health educator and community mobilizer. “After the fall of the Soviet Union, I was able to bring together what we always knew as opposing ideologies: secularism and religion,” explains Salohideen. With the support of Mercy Corps field staff, Salohideen was able to fully transform his hybrid beliefs into action when he joined his local Village Development Committee (VDC) in 2009.

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Faiziniso (right) demonstrates the process of child dehydration with the help of another volunteer during a lesson on Diarrhea.

Faiziniso Ruziboeva has always dreamed of becoming a doctor. However, there is only one medical school in all of Tajikistan, which located in the nation’s capital, Dushanbe. Having grown up in a family of 10 children in the northern Sughd province — made remote by impressive mountain ranges, jagged borders and meager infrastructure — Faiziniso never had the means to get her medical degree.

Despite these barriers, she has been relentless in finding other ways to serve the women and children of her village. She has been a dedicated a primary school teacher for 27 years and has managed to pursue her interest in medicine independently. In college, she took first aid as an elective and has since been studying health on her own. Her neighbors are well aware of her hobby, and often come to her for basic medical advice. Last year — with the help of Mercy Corps — Faiziniso was finally able to take her passion a step further by becoming a trained Community Health Educator.

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