Hope is the parent of faith.

- C. A. Bartol

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About the challenges to health in Africa:

 

Buruli Ulcer

Lather Against Ebola

Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI)

Project: IVORY COAST

HOPE is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, sickness and captivity would, without this comfort, be insupportable.
  -William Samuel Johnson

 Widespread poverty, hunger, and a lack of sanitation bring an array of deadly and debilitating diseases to the children and families in villages surrounding N’gattadoloukro, Ivory Coast.

 

Access to healthcare is limited and the quality of care is often poor.

 

Now, those living in the Ivory Coast face additional threats from Ebola raging in neighboring countries.

 

The staggering sickness and death rates impact nearly every family, keeping them from jobs, education, and better lives.

There is hope, though. Many of the diseases found in this region of Africa are treatable, and in some cases, even preventable. Small changes in education, prevention, and treatment could cut serious illnesses tremendously, allowing children and families full and more robust lives.

The Tumaini Foundation is dedicated to helping bring better health care to the residents of N’gattadoloukro, Ivory Coast. Better trained professionals with the facilities, medication, supplies, and equipment for proper treatment, prevention, and diagnosis means healthier living and new hope.

Your support through the Tumaini Foundation will directly fund the supplies and equipment for a free outpatient clinic and prevention education in N’gattadoloukro, Ivory Coast to help thousands of families and children.

Yao Kouadio’s family – his sister, uncle, and legions of cousins – live in a tiny village in central Ivory Coast called N’gattadoloukro.

Yao remembers life in Cote d’Ivoire, as his family calls his country, as always tough, but manageable. While poverty and sickness are common, his village also enjoys things like septic systems, cell phones, and modern roads.

But in 1973, Yao remembers that things changed for the worse. The country dammed the Bandama River to create irrigation systems to grow rice. For four decades now, new diseases have emerged that are wreaking havoc on families and lives. Villagers blame the water from the new lake, Lake Kossou, that they rely on for swimming, bathing, washing clothes, and drinking.

Today, the Biruli ulcer is still devastating families like his. In the same family of organisms as those that cause leprosy and tuberculosis, it is unique because it produces a toxin – mycolactone – which destroys tissue and can impact not only the skin, but also the bone. In 25% of cases left untreated, those afflicted are left disabled.

The addition to the Biruli ulcer, families also battle other devastating illnesses like typhoid fever, dysentery, river blindness, schistosomiasis, and many others.

As with the Biruli ulcer, late diagnosis with these afflictions demands difficult-to-access and costly hospitalizations. Disability and death rates are high among both adults and especially children. The nearest health center and pharmacy to N’gattadoloukro is a rough – and expensive – 10 mile journey.

But for many of these diseases, early detection and treatment are real options. And with proper outreach and education, so is prevention. In fact, over 80% of Biruli ulcer cases can be cured with a simple course of antibiotics.

The Tumaini Foundation is dedicated to bringing families that live in N’gattadoloukro and surrounding villages the care, supplies, education, and diagnosis options they need to prevent and treat the illnesses that impact their region. Through better health care, families like Yao’s can thrive, all the village children can attend school free of devastating illness, and the cycle of poverty can be broken.