Posts Tagged: “Mali”

Meeting My “Daughter” in Niger

September 12, 2012 | Posted by Emily Heck Toubali
An inside look into HKI's trachoma control activities in Niger and Mali.
Ladies

Post by Emily Toubali, HKI’s Program Manager of Neglected Tropical Disease Control. Photos by Emily Toubali and Aryc Mosher.

Amina Nouhou lived for over 20 years with the searing pain of trichiasis, the final stage of the blinding disease of trachoma.  Each time she blinked, the eyelashes of her left eye scraped her cornea.  I cannot even begin to imagine the extreme discomfort she silently endured each day.  She woke up, cleaned her house, and cooked meals for her family, in constant suffering from this excruciating condition.

more…

(1) Comment
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories Africa, Preventing Blindness

The Forgotten Children of the Sahel

June 19, 2012 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
Diffa children

This post was written by Jennifer Nielsen, HKI’s Senior Program Manager for Nutrition and Health. It is part of a series of blogs organized by The Huffington Post and the NGO alliance InterAction to call attention to the crisis in the Sahel, a region in sub-Saharan Africa where more than 18 million people face starvation and 1.1 million children under the age of 5 are at risk of dying from acute malnutrition.

Although my e-mail is flooded with messages detailing the political, economic and climactic forces precipitating a hunger crisis in the Sahel, the story is strikingly absent from the news reaching most Americans.  But because my work in the region has helped me see these vulnerable families as if they were my own, I am anguished by the situation.

more…

(0) Comments
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories Africa, Reducing Malnutrition

Integrated NTD control in Mali

April 11, 2012 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
Lessons learned in Mali can serve as example for other countries implementing integrated NTD programs.
Mali Map PLOS

This post was written by Amy Alabaster and first appeared on the End the Neglect blog.

In many parts of the world where NTDs run rampant, it’s not uncommon to see communities affected by 2, 3 or even all seven of the most common NTDs. Because of this, countries and other stakeholders involved in NTD control are increasing efforts to integrate disease control programs. Integration helps to reach more people with the drugs needed to treat and prevent NTD infections, while cutting down on costs and resource demands.

In 2007, Mali was one of five ‘fast-track’ countries, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), managed by RTI International and assisted by Helen Keller International, to launch an integrated national NTD Control Program. A paper recently published in the Public Library of Sciences (PLoS) NTDs describes the successes and lessons learned so far through the implementation of this program.

more…

(0) Comments
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories Africa, Preventing Blindness

Meet HKI’s Friendly Worm Warrior: Emily Toubali

March 22, 2012 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
An interview with HKI's Program Manager for Neglected Tropical Disease Control
Moyamba 2

In honor of World Water Day, I am highlighting Helen Keller International’s Program Manager for Neglected Tropical Disease Control, Emily Toubali. One of her responsibilities it to manage our Trachoma Control Programs, a major component of which is promoting face-washing and proper sanitation to prevent this blinding disease. I recently sat down with Emily and asked her about her background, what drew her to the career she has today, and why water is so important to global health.

more…

(2) Comments
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories Africa, Helen Keller, Preventing Blindness, Staff Profiles

A Pact for Public Health

June 14, 2011 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
A traditional healer and an HKI Community Health Agent work together to protect malnourished children.
DSCF0715

This post orignially appeared as a success story on 1,000 Days’ website. The 1,000 Days partnership seeks to improve nutrition for mothers and children in the 1,000 day period from pregnancy to age two when better nutrition can have a life-changing impact on a child’s future.  

In Mali, Helen Keller International has developed a program to both treat and prevent malnutrition, an acute public health problem in this part of the world. HKI’s Senior Nutritionist in Mali, Vanessa Dickey, explains how a traditional healer and an HKI Community Health Agent found common ground to protect the health of malnourished children in the Koulikoro Region.

My colleague, Oumou Sangare, noticed a worrisome trend in the health district of Banamba; children diagnosed with acute malnutrition were not going to the local health center for the treatment they desperately needed. She was determined to find out the reason for this behavior.

more…

(2) Comments
Tags: , ,
Categories Africa, Reducing Malnutrition