Description

Efficient emergency health services are perhaps one of the most important needs of any community. Unfortunately, for the people of two villages in the extreme north of Armenia, waiting hours for an ambulance was routine.

The village of Arevatsag is located in a remote area of the country, which made the access to health care services difficult. The community members had to travel to Alaverdi Health Care Centre in order to receive treatment. When an ambulance was needed, they would wait hours for assistance.

On the other hand, the village of Akori is not far from Alaverdi, but the large amount of patients in the centre and the high demand for ambulances presented a challenge to the delivery of proper health services.

It was in this scenario that World Vision’s advocacy approach called Citizen Voice and Action was applied. Community Action Groups that were mobilized by World Vision in those villages pinpointed two major needs: better primary health care and ambulance service.

The next step was to take the issues to the quarterly town hall meeting in which both community members and local health providers participated.

The community’s efforts were rewarded. The State Health Agency amended the budget of the two health facilities of both villages and increased the amount for acquiring and maintaining emergency aid and ambulance services.

“It was a major health issue for our community not to have access to regular ambulance services. The ambulance is a great help to our community,” said Armen Hovhannisyan, a member of Akori Active Group. “It is thanks to these discussions that now the health facility of our community has the budget for primary health care and has acquired an ambulance,” he added.

Since September 2011, an ambulance has been allocated to each village. Although the ambulances are not new and fully equipped, they are a great help to the communities.

“This success increases the trust of the community towards both Akori Active Group and health authorities. This also shows that the issues they raise together is addressed and solved,” said Hovhannisyan.