This caravan, organized in partnership with the Provincial Delegation of Health and Social Protection, and the Al-Karama Association for Development and Training, is part of a series of health awareness campaigns maternal and child health carried out by the Provincial Human Development Committee in Oujda-Angad, in cooperation with civil society associations and in coordination with the Provincial Health Delegation.
This initiative also aims to raise awareness among rural women about good health practices and enable them to benefit from free medical examinations.
The medical caravan provided consultations and medical examinations, particularly in the specialties of general medicine, obstetrics-gynecology and pediatrics, as part of the rapprochement of health services for the benefit of women and children in rural areas.
The head of the axis relating to maternal and child health at the Social Action Division (DAS) in the Oujda-Angad prefecture, Soumia Sekkouri, explained that this medical caravan targeted women from douars in the Labsara and Aïn Sfa communes, noting that around 84 women benefited from awareness-raising activities and free medical examinations (general medicine and early detection of breast and cervical cancer) .
She added that the awareness-raising activities also focused on breastfeeding and ways to prevent a number of diseases related to reproductive health, highlighting the role played by the National Initiative for Human Development in improving and strengthening of health provision.
Ms. Sekkouri also highlighted the efforts made by the INDH to support the economic and social empowerment of women, by training and supervising them in areas such as sewing, cooking and hairdressing, in addition to encouraging the schooling of rural girls through the equipment of Dours Attaliba, the organization of support courses and the acquisition of buses to facilitate their transport, in order to reduce school dropouts and improve the learning level.
For her part, the head of the mobile medical units program at the provincial Health delegation in Oujda, Mbarka Zad Qader, underlined the positive impact of this medical caravan which also falls within the framework of the month of Pink October, and which aims to raise awareness among rural women of the importance of early detection of breast and cervical cancer, in addition to carrying out gynecological examinations.
According to data from the DAS, during the period 2019-2024 and within the framework of the fourth INDH program “Improving human capital for rising generations”, 36 medical caravans were organized in all rural communes, having benefited around 1,500 women, in addition to equipping all rural health centers as part of the “maternal and child health” axis.
In addition, the INDH is working through the Income Improvement and Economic Inclusion of Youth Program to promote the economic empowerment of rural women by financing income-generating projects.