Our Stories - Helen Keller International

Sweet Potatoes: A ‘Magic Crop’ for Better Nutrition?

“They call it a magic crop.” That was the first thing Lansana Sesay said to me when I met him at the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI) in the city of Makeni. Sesay, who is SLARI’s Research and Extension Officer, is working to reintroduce orange-fleshed sweet potatoes to small- and medium-scale farmers in Sierra […]

Sisterhood is Powerful: World Breastfeeding Week 2019

When Sylvia Awino Atero was pregnant with her fourth child, her sister-in-law, Christine, was expecting, too. The two women lived with their husbands, who are brothers, in the same family compound in Kanganya, Kenya. “We got pregnant around the same time and went to pre-natal clinic together. I was the first to deliver, in March […]

A Future Without Food: UN Climate Action Summit 2019

As world leaders gather in New York to attend the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, millions of people around the world are mobilizing to demand change for climate justice. To accelerate global commitment to climate action, UN Secretary-General António Guterres is convening a Climate Action Summit in New York City on September 23. This is […]

USAID-funded MMDP Project: A New Chance at Life

“Trichiasis is uncomfortable and painful. But once you have the surgery, your health improves. Then you can work again without problems. It makes [me] proud to have saved someone’s sight.” —Minanta, MMDP-trained surgeon, Burkina Faso Tens of millions of people around the world are at risk of preventable blindness from trachoma, and disability and disfigurement […]

Dr. Emmanuel D’Harcourt Appointed Chief Program and Innovation Officer of Helen Keller International

New York (August 1, 2019)—The global health organization Helen Keller International has announced the appointment of Dr. Emmanuel d’Harcourt as its new Chief Program and Innovation Officer. DR. EMMANUEL D’HARCOURT Dr. d’Harcourt will officially assume the post on August 12, 2019 and will be based in the organization’s New York headquarters. He will succeed Helen […]

Knowledge Ensures Healthy Babies and Healthy Mothers

It’s a special service day in Gbondapi town, Sierra Leone, and that means the long wooden benches in the foyer of the health center are filled exclusively with mothers and their young children. The people outnumber the chairs, so a few perch instead on the concrete ledge surrounding the clinic. Helen Keller International supports the […]

Eliminating a Disfiguring Disease in Sierra Leone

In Sierra Leone, mosquitos are much more than a nuisance – they also transmit harmful diseases like lymphatic filariasis. Known as LF for short, elephantiasis in the United States, and big fut in Sierra Leone, lymphatic filariasis is a disfiguring, centuries-old disease. The parasitic worms that cause LF are transmitted to humans through the bite […]

The ‘Great Potato’ Helps Farmers Boost Income and Health

Since she began growing it a few years ago, Massah Abdulai hasn’t stopped singing the praises of the orange-fleshed sweet potato. “Our children are getting sick less often. My vision has improved, and I have fewer headaches,” she said. “We know this is medicine. ‘Eat these potatoes, and you won’t need to go to the […]

Women in Senegal are Raising Chickens to Raise their Standard of Living

A few years ago, we brought you the stories of two entrepreneurial Senegalese women who were growing food, raising chickens, diversifying their families’ diets, and increasing their income, with help from Helen Keller International’s CHANGE project. Soukeyna, a grandmother who lives with her children and grandchildren in Guédiawaye, a neighborhood on the outskirts of the […]

New Flagship USAID Partnership Will Advance Nutrition Worldwide

Helen Keller International is part of a new consortium of organizations selected by USAID to help scale up efforts to improve nutrition for women and children in low-and middle-income countries. The five-year global project—USAID Advancing Nutrition—led by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI), will bring together international and local organizations across various sectors and […]