Press Room
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more...News of Interest
more...Stories from the Field
Sierra Leone, located in West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Sierra Leone ranks highest in under five mortality, meaning that only 3 out of 10 children do not live to see their 5th birthday.
HKI visited a blind school in the city of Bo and witnessed heartbreaking conditions: two dorms with old, stained mattresses, broken windows and torn mosquito nets. Only older children are here because the school doesn’t have enough money to take in younger students.
Many of these blind children suffered from vitamin A deficiency (VAD), which either resulted in their blindness or made their immune systems susceptible to blindness from causes such as measles.
Just two doses of high-potency vitamin A capsules are needed every year to prevent VAD. The total cost of delivering the vitamin A is just $1.00 per child per year. HKI’s role in Sierra Leone is to ensure that the capsules reach those most in need. 
HKI also met adults in Sierra Leone blind from a disease called onchocerciasis, or river blindness, an excruciating affliction that is caused by worms that infest the body.
One man, blind from onchocerciasis, was valiantly trying to support his family by doing umbrella repairs. 
HKI’s work in Sierra Leone is to help train and mobilize networks of community volunteers to get Mectizan® (ivermectin), the drug that prevents and treats onchocerciasis, to people who need it. Merck & Co., Inc. has committed to donating Mectizan® wherever it is needed as long as it is needed.
Today, there are 30,000 dedicated volunteers in Sierra Leone who are reaching 90% of their local population with this sight-saving medicine. 
In a May 2008 article, Nick Kristof wrote that, “Americans sometimes don’t want to help poor countries because of doubts about whether aid works. There are legitimate doubts . . . but there also are extraordinary triumphs that don’t get attention.” He was travelling with HKI staff in Sierra Leone when he wrote these words.
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Media Contact:
Jennifer S. Klopp
Vice President, Development and Communications
Tel: (212) 532-0544 x808
media@hki.org
Helen Keller International
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