Garo Hills, Meghalaya, May 30, 2019:  WTI-WLT Conducts Free Medical Health Camp in Mandalgre, Garo Hills. A one-day Medical Health Camp was organised for residents of three villages in the Garo Hills at the community hall of Mandalgre village on May 30. The camp levied no charges for the villagers.

The camp was implemented under the Garo Green Spine Conservation Project run by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and World Land Trust (WLT) with support from the Meghalaya Forest Department and Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) in collaboration with District Medical and Health Office, East Garo Hills, Williamnagar. Chiwategre, Mandalgre and Rongkinggre – are all of crucial importance to the Garo Green Spine region where the WTI-WLT team has worked for over a decade and a half, motivating and supporting local communities to set aside land for Village Reserve Forests (VRFs) to provide better habitat and connectivity for wild animals. The community of Mandalgre had earlier set aside 750 hectares of land for conservation and got it notified as Village Reserve Forest for the benefit of wildlife in 2008. They have again come forward to provide more forest land area for conservation.

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Free health consultation, treatment, and medicines were aided to a total of 103 villagers including children and where necessary, by the medical teams headed by Dr Cruzi Sangma, District Tuberculosis Officer, Dr Bibha Marak, District Malaria Officer, Dr Mibandik Marak and Dr Jayantha Hajong, Medical & Health Officers. Out of the total attendees, 74% were adults, and 26% were children between the age of 0 and 14 years; there were more women (58%) than men (42%); the most common diseases treated were Common Cold and Cough related (26%) followed by Gastroenteritis (20%) and Dental problem (18%); skin infection, clinical anaemia, arthritis are to name a few diseases they were advised on. The Health Officers spoke about prevention of Tuberculosis, Malaria, Diarrhoea and other conditions prevailing in and around the region. It also included information on maternal and childhood diseases including immunisation, ante-natal care, post-natal care and childbirth preparedness.

“I would like to express my gratitude to the government medical personnel and WTI-WLT team for setting up this camp in our village”, said Mr Chaman Sangma, Vice President of the VRF. “Due to the bad road conditions, the community residing in our village does not have access to proper health care facilities, especially during the monsoon season. I am very happy for this thoughtful gesture by the team and would like to convey my full support for the conservation of wildlife and its habitats in the region”. Mr Sunil Kyarong, Joint Director, WTI, further added that “maintaining sound health of the wildlife, forests and community guardians is the key priority of the project. This small gesture has earned goodwill towards the conservation of wildlife in the landscape.”

Initiatives like these go a long way in getting continued support from the people of Garo Hills for conservation interventions in the region. WTI has been working towards conserving and restoring the Green Spine with a unique, community-based conservation model to secure the rich biodiversity, where the community sets aside their village land voluntarily as ‘Village Reserve Forest (VRF)’, through easements or bilateral-sharing models. The communities have actively owned the conservation efforts and together with the local government have by far secured more than 3000 hectares of forest as 17 VRFs.