Two new Access to Healthcare projects in China

Stoma clubs and ostomy care guidelines on their way

Access to Healthcare, Coloplast’s donation program, has recently launched two projects in China.
One project will create clubs where ostomates will be trained in better care and how to bring awareness to authorities - who can increase access to products and care - while another will provide guidelines for standardising ostomy care.

 

Stoma clubs

In China, people with ostomies don't have much opportunity to meet each other. There are also very few trained stoma care nurses, and no single standard of treatment or care for ostomates. 

Through raising awareness, stoma clubs can improve these problems.
The clubs will train a minimum of 500 ostomates in three regions of China in  better care and how to bring awareness of ostomy care issues to authorities, who can increase access to products and care.
The International Ostomy Association and Chinese professor and doctor Desen Wan applied to Access to Healthcare for funding to form the clubs.

 

National guidelines

The second project is the establishment of national guidelines for ostomy treatment, which will standardise and improve ostomy care in China. It will also work with hospitals and associations in order to create government awareness.

The first step in establishing guidelines is getting an overview of the current situation, so the project will begin by conducting a nationwide survey. 
The survey results will inform the guidelines, which will be developed by a board of healthcare professionals and government officials, and promoted to 40 key hospitals in China. Furthermore, the guidelines will be the foundation for an education seminar, a booklet, and a website.
The China Nursing Association applied for Access to Healthcare funding, and is in charge of the project. It will also work on getting a stoma care speciality for nurses officially recognized by the Chinese government. This should create more positions at hospitals. An increased number of stoma care nurses will increase awareness in hospitals and make life easier for Chinese ostomates.

 

Access to Healthcare

Access to Healthcare is Coloplast's donation programme, aimed at increasing the availability, and improving the existing quality, of intimate healthcare in developing countries.