The Methodist Rural Public Health Program in Mursan, India, is a small center that has been working with preventive health teams in the area since the 1940s. In the beginning, a team came weekly to Mursan from Vrindaban, about 22 miles away, where the Methodist Church had a large and very famous hospital. The problem with the weekly visit was that babies were delivered during the night and almost never while the team was there. Then, in 1962, a delegation went from Mursan to Vrindaban to ask the hospital's authorities to come and build a center in Mursan. The Raja (the king at that time), gave land to build the center, and in November of 1962, the center with its clinic was ready. Since then, the hospital staff has been in residence in Mursan and has served the people in this area.

In the beginning, the center assisted with births (home deliveries) and promoted public health. It was difficult for the staff at first, without electricity or any facilities at all. From 1962 to 1984, Miss Borghild Sorensen, a missionary from Norway, was sent by the General Board of Global Ministries in the United States. In 1986, we started village projects and later training of TBA (Traditional Birth Attendants). The center formed youth and women's clubs and a handicap-assistance program, and slowly got acquainted with all the villages in the district. From 1990 to 2002, as many as 10,226 birth attendants received training, and 121 youth clubs and 118 women's clubs formed.

From 1986 to 1992, several projects began, and two centers, Karhari and Beswan, reopened. These were once good clinics owned by the Methodist Church in India and managed by the Methodist Hospital in Mathura, but for various reasons they had closed. Other projects supported by Mursan were the day-care center, a four-month training course for nurses' aides, and Child Health Training. All of these projects are thriving today.

HIV/AIDS Project

Last year, because of growing concern in India and the whole world, we added an HIV/AIDS component to our project. We had actually been doing some training in the villages as part of TBA training. But we then started more direct training through specific HIV/ AIDS camps that provide testing and screening for the general population. The TBA training project covers 10 blocks, with about 200,000 people living in each block. When we started this project, it was uncertain whether we would make contact with HIV-positive people, but slowly they have come to us. Because of the camps, many HIV-positive patients come to our clinics regularly.

A survey of all the villages we cover has given us an idea of how many people have chronic illnesses like tuberculosis, but not how many people live with HIV/AIDS. It is difficult to predict whether or not the patients suffering from HIV/AIDS will come forward for treatment. Some people suspect that they are HIV positive, but because of the stigma attached to the disease, they are afraid to be tested and treated. Some have had bad experiences at hospitals with doctors who have treated them rudely because they are HIV-positive.

A Growing Ministry

In addition to the small Methodist Public Health Center in Mursan, we built a small but beautiful building just for the HIV/AIDS program. This building, called Asha, a Hindi word meaning “hope,” has a counseling room, a delivery room, and a patient room.

We started a monthly support group in which staff and counselors sit and talk with the patients about problems at home or in the community. The patients are candid. During the last meeting, one of the women talked about her brother, who told her to leave his home because she was HIV-positive. He is getting married and believes it will not be good for him to have his sister living with his new family. Our staff promised to visit the brother, counsel him, and help him understand.

The support group has two very positive and adept counselors who help patients to see that being HIV-positive is not the end of the world. For a lot of patients, the cost of medicine is the biggest problem. Most of the patients are poor and cannot afford medication, nutritious food, or proper shelter. The most important aspects of care are cleanliness, making food at home, and avoiding contaminated fruits and vegetables. It is very important to help patients understand that by staying healthy, they may live for many years. If they come for regular medical exams to a familiar place, their chances of survival improve. If the patient gets a fever or diarrhea, it is very important to treat the illness. In this way, they can survive—even without antiretroviral drugs—for many, many years.

We try to help the patients as much as we can. In Mursan, we also support a scholarship program funded by United Methodist Church members in Norway. Many of the HIV/AIDS patients are now receiving help through this project. Parents can get the treatment they need and their children can go to school.

We in Mursan have a job to do with the HIV/AIDS patients and we hope to reach more of them. We are all God's children. Our project's name is Asha because the patients who come to us discover hope for a better and longer life.

* Reidun Refsdal is an RN, anesthesiologist, and missionary of The United Methodist Church of Norway working as a nurse with the Methodist Public Health Center in Mursan, India. She has been serving in Mursan since 1978.