When was the last time you went see a puppet show to find out how to treat your common ailments? The idea may seem unusual, but in Mongolia this new way of informing people about looking after their health is significantly reducing the pressure on the country’s doctors and nurses.

Glenn Benablo is a Filipino VSO volunteer working at Darkhan Health Department in Mongolia. As part of VSO’s wider support for national volunteering initiatives, Glenn is currently supporting groups of Mongolian volunteers who work with local communities in the Darkhan area. Mongolia, like many poor countries, needs better equipment and more qualified staff, especially in rural areas. Furthermore, many Mongolians tend to bypass their local GP and head straight to hospital, putting greater strain on the resources. Those that do attempt to use their local clinics often find that nurses are out visiting patients who are too sick to travel.

The Health District already has a number of registered Mongolian volunteers who, because they lacked proper training, were neither valued in the community, nor properly effective. As a community nurse trainer Glenn is working to improve the status of these volunteers and the service they offer. The first step was to rename the volunteers Family Clinic Health Workers, provide them with a uniform, and train them to undertake basic tasks such as routine health checks and blood pressure tests.

One of their most important roles is to raise awareness of how people can take better care of themselves to prevent illness. To help this, Glenn organised a study tour to the Philippines, in which staff from the Health Department and the Family Clinic Health Workers learned about successful approaches taken by community volunteers there. After seeing how effective puppetry could be in communicating sensitive health care lessons in the Philippines, the volunteers created a puppet show and video about the need for vaccinations on their return to Mongolia.

As a result of this support for national volunteering and the funded tour, the Director of the Health Department has provided an allowance of $5 a month for the Family Clinic Health Workers and doctors and nurses have reported that they are able to spend more time treating people in the clinics.