Chief medical technician for this project: Dr. Saroj completed his MBBS in 2015 from Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal. Recently, he is working as a senior medical officer in Chaurmandu Primary Health Centre located in Achham, Sudurpaschhim province of Nepal. He has worked in remote parts of Nepal serving underserved population ever since his graduation.
Rachel's Story
After my daughter's death by suicide in 2009, I was challenged to find purpose in the life remaining to me. I understood that living intentionally and acting on my values and commitments would serve my wellbeing.
Disappointed by the limited quality of care I'd witnessed as a volunteer for an American nonprofit in Nepal, I decided to establish a comprehensive medical care model. Nepal's 2015 earthquakes provided me the opportunity to assemble a team of 16 medical providers who trekked days through steep trails to the isolated Tsum Valley, home to Tibetan Buddhists whose subsistence way of life has remained unchanged for centuries. Our clinicians treated chronic medical conditions including hypertension, chronic lung disease from hearth fires, and painful backs and arthritic joints from a field-to-mouth subsistence way of life.
The stoicism of the women who tend the hearth, children, and fields has inspired me to address women's health because, as the World Health Organization memes, "A village is only as healthy as its women and children." Because cervical cancer in developing countries is the number one cause of cancer death in women, I initiated the first screening program in the Middle Himalaya. In each of the following years I returned with a team until my husband's terminal cancer and the pandemic kept me home in Minnesota.
In April of 2024 I am returning with a medical and dental team to the far western province of Achham, an impoverished area without support for women's health or access to dental care. The global spotlight on menstrual taboo has inspired me to create a culturally attuned program that addresses the centuries-old custom of menstrual exile known as Chhaupadi. Forbidden from touching other people and objects, menstruating women and girls are isolated from the community in a livestock shed without cooking facilities or toilets in the belief that menstruation was cursed by the god Indra. Nursing babies who accompany their mothers can die from smoke inhalation and dehydration. Adolescents have sickened from sleeplessness and distress due to isolation and stigma. Our medical providers will be educating the community with a focus on women and girls during their visits with us for contraception and general medical care. Our goal is to replace fear of menstruation with an understanding and appreciation of the female reproductive system whose physiology is responsible for conception and birth.
With the help of translators, our team of medical and dental clinicians will provide comprehensive health care to rural people who come from far and near. In accordance with WHO's sustainability mandate, our footprint will remain long after our departure because of our high quality of care and commitment to sharing our documentation with local health providers.