Congratulations to our November 2011 grantees:
Project Concern International
World Education-Bantwana Initiative
Esperança, Inc
Carter Center, Nigeria
Project Overview
The Carter Center was awarded $388,179 over three years to continue conducting and expanding urinary schistosomiasis treatment activities in Southeast Nigeria. The Schistosomiasis Control Program (SCP) uses the existing infrastructure of The Carter Center River Blindness Program to provide mass annual treatments and health education to Nigerians at high risk of schistosomiasis. MOH officials at the state and local government area level, front line health personnel and community volunteers are vital stakeholders in this control strategy. This project will address two states in Southeast Nigeria, Delta and Edo. The Carter Center now has over 2.4 million praziquantel tablets available for this project, including praziquantel purchased with funds from the previous Izumi Foundation grant (688,000 tablets), and a new donation from WHO/Merck KGaA (1.75 million tablets). This represents approximately 975,000 schistosomiasis treatments (about 2.5 tablets per treatment). A new contribution from the Izumi Foundation will support health education and schistosomiasis treatment for approximately 325,000 persons (primarily school-age children) each year over the next three years. To target the treatments where they are most needed, the Carter Center will conduct prevalence mapping in new areas, using dipsticks to detect hematuria (blood in urine). Izumi funds will support mapping in new LGAs (local government areas) of Edo State. Delta state has already been mapped through a private donation.
Overall Goal
The overall goal of the Carter Center's Schistosomiasis Control Program is to assist the Nigerian MOH to alleviate the suffering produced by schistosomiasis through community-based drug distribution and health education.
Jhpiego, Burkina Faso
Project Overview
Jhpiego was awarded a two year grant of $152,000 to reinforce a national cervical cancer prevention program to improve women's access to early detection and treatment of precancerous cervical lesions and prevent needless deaths from cervical cancer. This project will be targeted at two selected facilities where Jhpiego has already supported service delivery to serve as a model for national-level scale-up and expansion. Training for the visual inspection and single visit approach will be utilized and will be targeted toward mid-level health care providers, such as nurses and midwives, to shift the task of screening from the limited number of Ob-Gyn specialists so that the latter can focus on providing advanced care when needed. The objectives and activities of this project are in line with priorities identified by the government and international agencies for Burkina Faso at both the strategic and operational levels. Jhpiego will be working closely with the Ministry of Health to engage them and assist in strengthening and consolidating their efforts for national cervical cancer screening and prevention policies and service delivery guidelines, through the establishment of a cervical cancer technical working group. Additionally, Jhpiego will partner with the Association Kimi, a local Burkinabè nongovernmental organization (NGO), as well as the Midwifery Association of Burkina to conduct community mobilization and education so that women in these communities will utilize the available services. Monitoring and evaluation activities will be conducted, so that lessons learned from this project can be shared with stakeholders and will inform future expansion and scale-up of project activities.
Overall Goal
The goal of this project is to increase access to cervical cancer prevention services for women in Burkina Faso.
Esperança, Inc., Bolivia
Project Overview
Esperança Inc. was awarded a one year grant of $51,448 to decrease rates of Chagas disease within six rural village communities in the Department of Chuquisaca, located in the southern region of Bolivia. The population is primarily indigenous Quechuan farmers. Over 92% of the population lives in extreme poverty. Esperança will provide education and training to 15,000 local families, 286 health professionals, 58 community health workers, and 30 local government authorities on Chagas disease in order to increase knowledge and improve behaviors that will contribute to the elimination of the vinchuca bug – the vector which spreads the disease. Initially, a committee will be formed made up of local officials, community leaders and community members in order to oversee the project, promote community buy-in, and ensure sustainability once the project period is over. Educational materials and trainings will then be developed for each target audience. An extensive educational and capacity-building campaign will then take place through multiple-day trainings, house-to-house visits, community health talks, and mass dissemination of educational marketing materials.
Overall Goal
The overall goal of this project is to conduct an extensive public health educational and capacity-building campaign for local families, health professionals and local government authorities to prevent Chagas disease and eliminate the vector that transmits the disease within six municipalities in the Department of Chuquisaca, located in Southern Bolivia.
Rain for the Sahel and Sahara, Niger
Project Overview
Rain for the Sahel and Sahara was awarded $50,740 over a two year period to expand its current mentor program to include health education for preventable diseases with the goal of reducing incidence of, and death from, infectious diseases. RAIN will build on experience from its existing health mentor program in Arlit and Iferouane, and the mentoring program begun in Ingui in the Tillaberi region in 2009. This will be accomplished by expanding the medical training of the existing mentors to include infectious diseases, and adding mentors as needed. RAIN's methodologies for the mentor program, consisting of behavior change communication (BCC) and interpersonal education and communication (IEC), are core program strengths and ideal for disseminating health information.
Niger's government provides free medical treatment only to children under five years old. RAIN therefore proposes to house the program in schools so that it can target school age children as an entry point of care for the nomadic community. First aid kits will be distributed to each classroom teacher. Mentors will be responsible for recognizing symptoms and referring students for diagnoses, monitoring students to be sure treatment programs are followed and educating families, as well as treatments requiring simple first aid. The mentors are volunteers selected by the community and will receive a monthly stipend of rice and tea. RAIN will also purchase and supply medications and medical supplies to treat infectious diseases, which will be kept in RAIN storage areas at the schools. The project will begin in summer/September 2010 to prepare for the school year for year one, formalize contracts for medicines, distribute medicines, and to conduct mentor training by RAIN's health consultant. The school years run from October 2010 through June 2011 and October 2011 through June 2012, during which the mentors will teach students the health education curriculum.
Overall Goal
The overall goal of this project is to reverse morbidity and mortality amongst rural Nigeriens, particularly the Tuareg and Wodaabe nomadic peoples, from preventable, treatable diseases including malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea, meningitis, and measles.