About Podoconiosis disease in all kebeles of Dera woreda in South Gondar 

Mr. Andualem Fente, head of Shime kebele health center, told that the Community of Practice Committee which was established at Shime Kebele (አርብ ገበያ), Dera Woreda, in South Godar has conducted some public engagement and awareness creation activities about Podoconiosis in the community. The committee was established by the support of Social Sciences for Sever Stigmatizing Conditions (5S) Foundation Ethiopia in June 2022. Some the key issues discussed during the community awareness creation activities at Shime Kebele (አርብ ገበያ) were:

• The main cause of Podoconiois is walking with bare feet for over long time

• Podo cannot be transmitted from parent to children and has no connection with socio-cultural beliefs.

• Podo can be easily treated and it is also preventable

• The society should develop a habit of wearing closed shoes regularly

• The community needs to encourage people living with the skin condition to go to the nearest health centre to get the required treatment.

• Podo patients can reduce the swelling and the associated pain by washing their feet with soap, applying proper creams and bandages.

Furthermore, Mr. Andualem indicated that a podo focal expert is assigned in every keble who follow and hold a regular monthly meeting and discussion with podo patients about the disease and associated psychco-social problems. The committee is closely working with the kebel and woreda administrations, health professionals and non-government organizations. Recently, on the 20th of December 2022 Dera woreda health office, Shime kebele health centre and the CoP community in collaboration with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) has conducted an awareness creation campaign on the treatments of podo for 60 patients. During the event IOCC provided buckets for each patient.

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በደቡብ ጎንደር ዞን በደራ ወረዳ በአርብ ገበያ ክላስተር በሁሉም ቀበሌወች ተላላፊ ያልሆነዉን የዝሆኔ በሽታ /Podoconisis/ ለመከላከል እና ለመቆጣጠር በቀበሌ ደረጃ ኮሚቴ በማዋቀር ከጤና ባለሙያወች እና ከአጋር ድርጅቶች ጋር በመቀናጀት እየተሰራ ያለ ሲሆን በዚህም መሰረት

1,በሽታዉ የሚከሰተዉ ለረዥም ጊዜ በባዶ እግር በመሔድ እንጅ በዘር እና እርግማን የማይመጣ መሆኑን እዉቅና መፍጠር 

2,በሽታዉ እንዳይከሰት ጫማ መጫመት ዋነኛ መፍትሔ መሆኑን እዉቅና መፍጠር 

3,በበሽታዉ የተጠቁ ሰወች ወደ ጤና ጣቢያ በመምጣት የህክምና ክትትል እንዲያደርጉ እና ንፅህናቸዉን እንዲጠብቁ ማድረግ 

4,በጤና ጣቢያ ደረጃ እራሱን የቻለ ተጠሪ /podo focal/

በመሰየም በወር አንድ ጊዜ ከበሽታዉ ተጠቂ ከሆኑ ሰወች ጋር ዉይይት ማድረግ ይህንን ተላላፊ ያልሆነ የዝሆኔ በሽታ መከላከል እና መቆጣጠርን ትኩረት በመስጠት እየተሰራ ያለ ሲሆን በሁሉም ቀበሌወች የጤና ባለሙያወች ከቀበሌ አመራሮች ጋር በመቀናጀት ሁሉንም የዚህ በሽታ ተጠቂ የሆኑ የማህበረሰብ ክፍሎች ክትትል የጀመሩ እና አዲስ ተጠቂወችን የቅስቀሳ ስራ በመስራት በቀን 11/4/15ዓ.ም ጤና ተቋም እንዲመጡ በማድረግ በIOCC አጋር ድርጅት አጋዥነት 60 የእግር ንፅህና መጠበቂያ ሳፍ የተበረከተላቸዉ ሲሆን ጠቅላላ ዉይይትም ተካሒዷል፡፡አንዳንድ የዉይይቱ ተሳታፊወችም የተሰጣቸዉን ህክምና በቀጣይም ተጠናክሮ እንዲቀጥልልን ሲሉ በአንክሮ ጠይቀዋል፡፡