Taiwan Government provides funding for HKI's nutrition and health initiatives in Burkina Faso

New York, NY February 7, 2007 –The Taiwan government today announced its funding of the final phase of a three-year $375,331 program with Helen Keller International (HKI) in support of HKI’s efforts to combat malnutrition and blindness in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in Africa. In addition, the government approved new funding for a three-year $300,000 project to fortify cooking oil with vitamin A, another sustainable method to improve the health of children and mothers in Burkina Faso.

Ambassador Andrew Li-Yan Hsia, Director-General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York, made the official announcement at a ceremony at the TECO office in New York City.

“We are most grateful for this support from the Taiwan government, which directly furthers our mission to combat the causes and consequences of preventable blindness and malnutrition among the most vulnerable populations,” said Kathy Spahn, HKI’s President and CEO.  “Working together with our committed government and organizational partners, we can achieve sustainable solutions for sight and survival.”

Vitamin A is crucial for maternal and child survival, and vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a leading cause of nutritional blindness. It is estimated that controlling VAD will avert over 20,000 child deaths per year in Burkina Faso alone.

Food fortification is one strategy to combat VAD. The three-year project supported by the Taiwanese is part of a larger regional initiative in West Africa operating in eight countries. Fortifying cooking oil with vitamin A has proven to be effective, widely-accepted, sustainable and low cost. This project will help reduce child and maternal morbidity and mortality, while increasing the competitiveness of locally-produced cooking oil.

Eating foods rich in vitamin A, including orange fruits and vegetables and dark-green leafy vegetables, is another method to control VAD effectively. The project supported by the Taiwan government is being implemented in 23 primary schools in the province of Komandjiari. School and community gardens, planted with vitamin A-rich carrots and green leaves, are established on school grounds. Women’s groups maintain the community gardens while primary school students and their teachers work in the school gardens as a complement to their classroom study on nutrition. The shared location of the gardens forges stronger ties between the community members and the students. 

Efforts to control trachoma, the leading cause of infectious – and preventable – blindness in the world, have been integrated into the school project.  Information about the disease and the importance of face washing for prevention are presented in classroom lessons and exercises. HKI also provides the schools with “hygiene kits” – a plastic basin and kettle along with soap – to promote face washing.

Now entering its third and final year, the school project has seen great success.  Face-washing has become systematically adopted by the 23 project schools, and HKI has seen perceptible changes in hygiene practices in communities – resulting in a lower rate of trachoma prevalence. The communities eat vitamin A-rich, fresh green vegetables all year, and excess produce from the gardens has increased revenue for both the women and the schools. The gardeners have been so inspired that individual school children and women have created their own home gardens, demonstrating the long-term impact of this program.