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A searchable database of over 200 International NGOs operating in China.
The material presented here was compliled mainly on the basis of information supplied (and / or published) by the organisations profiled. We have made every effort to ensure fairness and accuracy, but should make clear to readers that these are independent portraits, not 'authorised' biographies.
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Terma Foundation
Mission: "The Terma Foundation implements public health programmes for indigenous peoples, acknowledging traditional belief systems and integrating low-tech, western technology where appropriate."
In China since: 1995
Number of staff: 10 national and 2 expat
Mainland China contact:
Tel: + 86 (0)891 633 4133
This organisation was established in 1995 by an American public health scientist, Nancy Harris, who had surveyed child nutrition in the Tibet Autonomous Region in the early 1990s and wanted to make a positive contribution to improving the health of the children she met. Registered in California, the foundation has so far implemented public health projects in rural areas of Lhasa Municipality and Chamdo Prefecture, in collaboration with local health authorities.
To combat infant malnutrition the foundation distributes multivitamin tablets and processed droma – a nutritious tuber that grows wild in Tibet and is part of the traditional, local diet – to poor households with young children and/or nursing mothers. Terma works with droma harvesters to increase supply of the wild plant, and is planning to partner with local farmers in a pilot commercial cultivation project. Training and health education programmes with maternal and child health workers, pregnant women and mothers are designed to increase their understanding of nutrition, to promote culturally acceptable forms of breast-feeding, and to increase early identification of high-risk pregnancies.
In order to design effective future programmes the foundation has carried out a systematic study into the efficacy of Traditional Tibetan Medicine in preventing and treating child health problems. A separate study has compared the relative effectiveness of vitamin supplements and increased exposure to sunlight as strategies for preventing rickets.
In 2004 the foundation began a five-year Tuberculosis prevention and control programme that includes health worker training, provision of medical equipment and supplies. This has started in Chamdo and will later be implemented in other TAR prefectures. In the first stage of the project, every county in Chamdo has been supplied with an X-ray machine, and received appropriate training in radiography.
Links
http://www.terma.org
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