Saving Childrens' Lives in West Africa
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A child receives the drug Mebendazole as part of a nationwide deworming campaign in Cote d'Ivoire led by MAP International, Operation Blessing International, and the national Ministry of Health. |
MAP International is treating thousands of children for parasites in the western African country of Cote d’Ivoire.
In outlying, rural communities in the western African country of Cote d’Ivoire, children run barefoot through villages dotted with thatched-roof huts. Goats and chickens are commonplace, and if the villagers are lucky, they may have access to a nearby well. Otherwise, water is fetched from a stream or pond possibly a mile or two away. In these unsanitary conditions, people, children especially, are vulnerable to helminthes and a variety of intestinal parasites including roundworms, tapeworms, and pinworms.
According to a study conducted by the Pasteur Institute of Cote d’Ivoire, nearly 37 percent of all children in Cote d’Ivoire’s capital of Abidjan are infected with helminths. These children must cope with tremendous health threats, many of them potentially fatal. Currently, Cote d’Ivoire has one of the highest childhood mortality rates in the region. Nearly 13 of every 100 children die before age 20 - most before they enter their teens.
Parasites rob children of essential nutrients, leaving them exposed to malnutrition and disease. From birth until age two, children infected with parasites face an increased risk of mortality due to anemia and deficiencies in iron and vitamin A. Infected children ages three and older struggle with chronic anemia, vitamin A deficiencies, cognitive impairment, and decreased school performance and attendance. But two simple things can change the health picture for these children. First, the parasites can be eliminated if the child takes a single pill every six months. Literally a few cents worth of medicine protects a child for a full year. Secondly, the incidence of infection can be reduced altogether when a community has access to clean water for drinking, cooking, and bathing.
To help bring about the first change, MAP International is working to save African children by giving millions of the children in Cote d’Ivoire healthier lives. In 2007, MAP began conducting helminth eradication campaigns for children at schools in and around Abidjan, where MAP has an office. MAP’s efforts are part of the Ivorian Ministry of Health national program for helminth control, a country-wide endeavor to safeguard the country’s 7.5 million children against parasites.
“MAP is playing a very important role in the lives of our children here in this country,” said Dr. Julien Ake, MAP’s director for Cote d’Ivoire. “By providing them with treatment, we’re not only saving lives. We’re increasing the physical and intellectual development of children. We’re reducing absenteeism in schools. We’re providing them with a future.”
MAP International staff members visit schools twice a year in order to provide children with doses of anti-parasitic medication, which keeps a child free of parasites for six months. MAP is also conducting educational classes for the children, their teachers, and their parents about basic sanitation, the importance of purifying drinking water, and other steps they can take to avoid contracting parasites.
MAP is also working with communities to develop clean water sources. In some cases, this means helping families procure water filters so that they can clean the surface water they need to live healthier lives. In other locations, MAP helping community leaders drill wells, install pumps, created water management committees, and training technicians to keep the pumps in good working order.
Medicines combined with long-term, sustainable clean water technologies are helping save African children and ensure that the children of Cote d’ Ivoire have a better chance of becoming healthier, better educated, productive adults.
