Heinrich A. Litzenroth Clinic: building work starts
GfK works with the UN on aid project for Sri Lanka
Nuremberg, September 3, 2008 – Work is beginning on the “Heinrich A. Litzenroth Memorial Healthcare Centre” located on Sri Lanka’s East Coast funded by donations from GfK. After an initial delay, the clinic is being built in civil war-torn Sri Lanka in cooperation with the UN-HABITAT agency of the United Nations. The centre is scheduled for completion in the middle of next year.The healthcare centre, which is named after GfK Group former Management Board member, Heinrich A. Litzenroth, is completely financed by GfK donations. According to the latest plans, the aid project will cost around EUR 210,000. Heinrich Litzenroth lost his life in the Tsunami disaster which hit South East Asia in December 2004. In the wake of the tragedy, the Management Board, staff and associates of GfK all over the world donated money to build a clinic in Sri Lanka in his name. The island state, which is off the southern coast of India, was particularly badly hit by the tsunami tidal wave.
The path to building the healthcare centre in the village of Kalmunai has been stony and beset by difficulties. Groundwork on the clinic initially began at the end of 2005 in the more northerly village of Kalkudah, co-sponsored by the City of Nuremberg, which has been supporting the project from its inception. However, the persistent civil war raging between government troops and the Tamil Tigers ultimately put an end to the work, although the foundations had already been built, and so the site was relocated to the rather more peaceful village of Kalmunai.
Cooperation partners: the UN and the City of Munich
With the risks at the new site needing to be minimized as much as possible, GfK turned to the expertise of the UN for assistance with the project. The UN agency, UN-HABITAT which specializes in developing settlements, has been active in Sri Lanka for many years. The City of Munich, capital of Bavaria, which has worked on a number of major projects with UN-HABITAT and which has been engaged in Sri Lanka for some years, acts as the intermediary between the partners and is the trustee responsible for passing on the money donated.
Ensuring basic healthcare
The two-storey Heinrich A. Litzenroth Memorial Healthcare Centre is an urgent necessity. It will provide basic medical healthcare to the local community in and around Kalmunai. This will benefit around 7,500 families totaling approximately 30,000 people who, nearly four years after the tsunami, are still battling with the effects of the disaster and remain among the poorest people in Sri Lanka. A core focus will concentrate on the health and nutrition of pregnant women and children, with vaccination programs and health education programs for the entire population of the region also receiving a high priority.
Some 170,000 people lost their lives in the tsunami which hit South East Asia just after Christmas in 2004, and almost 1.2 million were made homeless.
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