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A message from Professor Anthony Costello, Director of the UCL Institute for Global Health
7th May 2015
Nepal faces its greatest crisis in living memory. The recent earthquake has affected the lives of millions of people, with over 7,000 deaths and 15,000 casualties so far, a figure that will sadly only increase as the enormity of the disaster emerges.
I've worked with UCL-led mother
and child health projects in Nepal for over 25 years, in partnership with
Nepali organisations. I've witnessed the country's death rates halve and
literacy rates double.
My UCL colleague Dr Naomi Saville lives in Kathmandu and has been based in Nepal for 20 years with her husband Narayan Acharaya and their three children. She and her team - some of whom are UCL alumni - have trained thousands of women's groups across Nepal to respond to their community's health needs. These groups really do save lives on a daily basis.
We now need to expand these teams - quickly - to reach the millions of people affected by the earthquake.
We are on the ground and ready to help as international relief organisations respond to this emergency. With your support, we can take action immediately:
• We will mobilise our network of women's groups to help restore essential family health services, such as emergency transport to health facilities, distributing safe delivery kits to pregnant women and sharing information about sanitation. Find out more.
• As the relief and rebuilding effort begins, our groups will ensure
that the best guidelines for health and reconstruction are shared and followed,
so that the next time an earthquake strikes, buildings will be more resilient,
saving more lives.
Please support our efforts by clicking here or on the button below.
Thank you.
Professor Anthony Costello
Director, UCL Institute for Global Health
UPDATE FROM DR NAOMI SAVILLE
from the UCL Institute for Global Health in Nepal
28th May 2015
I've been overwhelmed by the support from the UCL community following the recent call to action from my colleague Professor Anthony Costello on 7 May after the first massive earthquake in Nepal on 25 April. Since then a further devastating earthquake has struck Nepal. Over 270 UCL supporters have given over £30,000 to support our local work in Nepal.
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Over a month has now passed since the first earthquake and media attention has moved on. But we need your help now more than ever as we help our local communties to recover.
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 As a Senior Research Associate with the
UCL Institute for Global Health, I have seen first-hand the impact of the
two earthquakes on our communities. I live in Nepal with my husband and
three children and have been working here for over twenty years, developing,
with our Nepalese partner organisation, participatory women's group
interventions that provide a grass-roots approach to improving community
health in Nepal.
Having this resource on the ground means that we have been able to respond to the crisis very quickly. We are helping to provide emergency shelter for the communities that we work with. The image here depicts the rebuilding efforts eight days after the first quake struck.
In my view the most important thing we can do to help the people of Nepal is to provide long-term advice on building more sustainable housing - I've seen how poorly constructed housing has led to more than 8,600 deaths, 22,000 injuries and homelessness for half a million households. I want to do something about this and we have the people on the ground who can make this happen.
Please get behind the UCL team and help
the people of Nepal build a more sustainable future for themselves.
Please support our efforts by clicking here or on the button below.
Thank you.
Senior Research Associate, UCL Institute for Global Health
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