***This fundraising will be for Project SHINE 2020. We have successfully RM 45,000 for Project SHINE 2019 through SimplyGiving, private contributions & other fundraising events. For Project SHINE 2019, check out this link: https://www.simplygiving.com/event/projectshinebypenanwomenproject
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Since 2017, we conduct a 7-day medical outreach program, known as Project SHINE (short for Sanitation, Health/Hygiene, Impact, Nutrition & Education) in collaboration with Clinical Research Centre, Sarawak General Hospital & Penan Women Project.
Our beneficiaries are 100 Penan families (equivalent to 300-500 Penans from a mixture of villages with & without access to medical healthcare service). These villages are located in remote areas of Sarawak where the medical service is limited due to accessibility, lack of human resources & limited medical supplies.
The project details are as follows:-
- This is an annual trip organised by PWP to the remote Penan villages spread along Ulu Baram River, which are only accessible via logging roads with 4WDs. In 2017, PWP had a similar trip with few medical doctors & realised that this initiative should continue & further expand to other villages.
- The medical team (consisting of multidisciplinary healthcare professionals, allied health and field researchers) will be giving medical healthcare treatment, consultation, healthy lifestyle education and disease surveillance on the Penans.
- Non-medical volunteers will be assisting to educate hygiene practices & engaging with the local community as well as installing simple DIY Solar Panels Off Grid & Water Filtration System (subject to sponsorship & availability).
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Target date: mid February 2020 (7-days)
- Problem that we are addressing:
- Medical accessibility to remote communities in Ulu Baram that are still not yet registered for scheduled visits by the local healthcare team
- Lack of healthy lifestyle awareness and practice within the rural and urban Penan communities.
- Lack of disease prevalence data on both communicable and non-communicable diseases among the Penans.
- Dogs are the Penan’s companions during hunting. With the recent outbreak on JE & Rabies around Sarawak, the community are exposed to the diseases.
- Inequality of marginalised communities where they deserve the right to basic healthcare like the rest
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The current population is facing extinction, as the stigma of modern medical practices is still at large in the community versus traditional practices.
- Difficult to identify
treatable & non-treatable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, dengue in early stages due to lack of health education, awareness & access to medical professionals.
6. Project Goal/Outcome:
- Education and empowerment of the Penan communities on healthy lifestyle and hygiene practice - start from home, start early for their children;
- Policy and improvement on remote medical accessibility in-line with the Ministry of Health policy.
- For the Penans, an increase of the sense of self-esteem, change of perspective of modern healthcare vs jungle practices.
7. Project Output:
- The surveillance data will be shared with Sarawak State Health Department to update the public health database.
- More importantly, the disease status information will allow local primary health clinic to prioritise area, provide treatment and management according to the findings thus enabling better use of the limited health resources available.
8. Social Impact
- Empowerment of the Penan community to take a more proactive stand on their health and management as well as shared health responsibility with primary healthcare providers in the vicinity.
- Through the partnership of the various parties, it will inculcate specialised knowledge including culture intelligence & values, capacity building & sustainability, advocacy to start a movement, spark the sense of urgency & agency & becoming the collective voice for the marginalised communities.
- Social inclusion & cohesion - tackling the grassroots problems of inequality & reaching out to the marginalised communities - they too have rights to basic healthcare & education.
- Education on waste management
9. Endorsements & Continuous support from:
- Dr Ooi, consultant paediatrician at Sarawak General Hospital who has designed this project & offered testing kits for flaviviruses such as dengue and JE for the Penan community.
- Dr Chua Hock Hin, State Infectious Disease specialist, supported the project and emphasized the need for disease surveillance in rural Sarawak communities.
- The medical team in Ulu Baram are ready to mobilise to support this project.
10. Estimated project cost = RM60,000 (RM30,000 medical supplies, RM10,000 solar panels/water filtration system, RM20,000 logistics for 15 pax of medical team & volunteers for 7-days)
