Concern Blogs

Mothers enter one of Concern's newly set up baby tents. Photo: Ed Kenney, Concern Worldwide.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – I was scheduled to travel to Haiti early in the year to visit Concern’s USAID funded Child Survival Program, but the January 12 earthquake changed all that. I finally arrived in Port-au-Prince May 24 after my flight the day before had been cancelled. I began to wonder if I would never get there.

My first impression is that Haiti seems, on the surface at least, similar to West Africa. There is such vibrancy here and resilience among the people—but, just under the surface, there must also be a lot of pain and loss. That was evident as I visited the neighborhoods where the Child Survival Program is still functioning to some extent.

I visited the community center near the rubble in St Martin, hidden among many of the buildings still standing, where new mothers meet to discuss their health concerns, as well as encourage and support each other during this challenging time. Read the rest of this entry »

Philip Wegner is Health Advisor for Concern Worldwide’s Child Survival programs in Haiti, Burundi, Rwanda and Niger.

In Western nations, most people don’t think twice about mosquito-bites except as a minor annoyance.

However, as Health Advisor for Concern Worldwide’s Child Survival programs, I cannot help but wonder how the world would be altered if the mosquitoes that cause so much suffering in Africa or Asia did the same thing here?

At one time, malaria was also present in the West—but its impact never compared to the illness and death it brings to people in developing countries. Read the rest of this entry »

The desert of Niger from the air, tiny clusters mark out the villages beneath

I am en route to Niamey, Niger’s capital city, and from there I will continue on to the Tahoua region, where Concern works. I am travelling to help set up a new five-year Child Survival program that we are undertaking in collaboration with the government of Niger. The program will deliver child health and nutrition services in a rural area. Read the rest of this entry »

Soldiers running together in daily exercise routine near the DRC border

Getting to Burundi

This is my second time now within the past two months that I have had to transit through Nairobi, Kenya en-route to the African Great Lakes countries (Rwanda and Burundi). Read the rest of this entry »