Senegal

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HKI has been operating in Senegal since 2004, when we initiated an adult cataract program in the Ziguinchor (Casamance) region. Currently, HKI‘s activities include:

• Vitamin A supplementation >> more
• Food fortification >> more
• Nutritional support for people living with HIV/AIDS >>more
• Cataract treatment >> more

Program Description:

Vitamin A Supplementation: In Senegal, 61% of children under 6 are classified with sub-clinical vitamin A deficiency according to a 2004 Global Progress Report from UNICEF and the Micronutrient Initiative (MI). HKI provides technical and financial support to the Ministry of Health to organize local vitamin A supplementation (VAS) days or Child Survival Days throughout the country's 63 health districts. HKI created a support package to aid local VAS Days that included monitoring tools, training, social mobilization, and supervision. HKI’s partners include UNICEF, the Senegalese Nutrition Enhancement Program, and MI to maintain high and sustained coverage of VAS.

In December 2005, HKI, in collaboration with UNICEF, supported an integrated deworming during this mass campaign. This was a vital measure as the 2005 Demographic and Health Survey indicated that 84% of children in Senegal under five are anemic. Combining de-worming with VAS represented the first nationwide response to high anemic rates in young children.

To further promote awareness of VAS days, HKI, in collaboration with the National Services for Health Education and Information, developed television and radio spots aired in both French and Wolof (the most widely-spoken languages in the country) throughout the districts. HKI introduced a vitamin A logo and promotional posters for VAS, optimal breastfeeding, and daily consumption of vitamin A-rich foods. (Please see examples below). HKI, in collaboration with UNICEF, also helped the Ministry of Health develop directives for routine VAS. Finally, HKI developed an Essential Nutrition Actions package to provide important information on nutrition and general health for health workers and their clients.

>> Click here to read the press release about HKI's most recent VAS days.

Food Fortification: Food fortification is the addition of nutrients to commonly consumed and widely accessible foods and has been recognized as a key strategy in the prevention, reduction and control of micronutrient deficiency.

HKI plays a key role in the implementation of food fortification including helping create and participating in the National Alliance for Food Fortification (Comite Sénégalais pour la Fortification des Aliments en Micronutriment-COSFAM), as well as providing technical support to the Institute of Food Technology (Institue de Technologie Alimentaires). HKI worked with COSFAM, which agreed to fortify oil with vitamin A and wheat flour with iron and folic acid, to develop a strategic plan, protocols, and mandatory fortification norms in harmony with West African standards.

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Nutritional Support for People Living With HIV/AIDS: Good nutrition is essential for proper immune system function and full physical, intellectual and cognitive development for all children, and is particularly important for those living with HIV/AIDS since HIV also compromises the immune system. In partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and USAID, HKI has made significant progress in helping provide nutritional support for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA ) in Senegal.

HKI performed a baseline assessment to determine the level of knowledge and nutritional materials for health workers, counselors, caregivers and PLWHA. The results were analyzed to create a Package of Essential Nutritional Services (PISEN). PISEN integrates educational components and nutrition materials into existing services at health facilities and helps to form a national strategy for support at the community level. HKI produced learning guides for both facilitators and participants, counseling tools, monitoring cards and trained over 150 district health care workers. HKI worked with the West Africa Health Organization (WAHO) to develop a computer-based monitoring and evaluation system to collect and track clinical information on PLWHA (SysNP+) to scale up the capacity of the health care system. An evaluation completed two years after the program began indicated significant progress in nutritional support for PLWHA.

Cataract Treatment: Cataract is the number one cause of treatable blindness. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 150,000 people are blind from cataract in Senegal with 18,000 new cases every year and 400,000 people with serious problems to their vision. The current cataract surgery rate of 600 surgeries per million does not meet the need nor WHO’s recommended rate of 2,000 per million.

HKI partnered with the Senegal National Blindness Prevention Program, the Ministry of Health and the Ziguinchor Regional Hospital to implement VISION 2020 for an adult cataract program. To read a press release about HKI’s cataract program in Senegal, please click here.

Noteworthy accomplishments include the creation of an ophthalmology unit in Bignona, in Southern Senegal, that provides cataract surgery at the district level. The project also identified barriers to cataract surgery in order to form an outreach strategy; educated communities with radio broadcasts, theater productions, viewings of the film “Side Ijuk - I will see” and created eye health training tools to reinforce the capacity of 112 nurses. In 2007, the ophthalmology unit in Bignona and Oussouye conducted 5,774 consultations, performed 121 cataract operations, and corrected 487 cases of refractive error.

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Program Partners

• Catholic Relief Services
• CIDA
• Fight Against Blindness Program
• ITA
• MI
• Ministry of Health
• Nutrition Enhancement Program
• UNICEF
• USAID
• VISION 2020

Key Staff

• Marianne Flach- Deputy Regional Director for West Africa
• Djibril Cissé - Deputy Country Director
• Amadou Lamine Gueye - Nutrition Coordinator
• Christian Adjoudjoune Tendeng- Nutrition Project Officer - Ziguinchor

Last updated: June, 2008