What started out as a trip to inspect the results of an investment the Xerox Foundation made in the Tanzanian operations of Concern Worldwide turned out to be an inspiring example of how similar people are the world over. The stated purpose of my trip to Ngara, Tanzania, miles from the Rwanda border, was to see the fruits of an innovation grant in a remote farming community where most people survive from harvest-to-harvest if not day-to-day. Concern workers there had a hunch that Lantana plants repelled mosquitoes that carry malaria which is the number one cause of death in these remote hills in northwest Tanzania. Based on their initial findings, they may just be on to a big idea. I learned all about their experiments and results, of course, but I learned so much more. Here is a recap. Read the rest of this entry »
After another long travel day that includes a ferry across Lake Victoria, one of the major sources of the Nile, and six hours of hard driving, much of it on jaw-jarring, pot-holed dirt roads, we arrive at Ngara by early afternoon. I keep telling myself that innovation requires risk; that we shouldn’t expect too much: that, after all, this was a long shot to begin with. But I am not fooling myself. I want this experiment to bear fruit for Xerox, for the people of Concern and, mostly, for the heroic people they serve. Read the rest of this entry »
Concern’s Community Animators review counseling cards that we will use to teach mothers healthy behaviors. Photo: Niger, Concern Worldwide
This summer, I traveled from the Concern US office in New York City to Tahoua, Niger, leaving the heat of the city behind and arriving to much hotter weather (130 degrees!) on the dusty and barren edge of the Sahel. In the Tahoua region, which is about 400 kilometers north of Niamey, Niger’s capital, Concern is in the second year of its child survival programs.
Over the last decade, these programs, funded by USAID have been recognized for their impact, improving maternal and child health in Bangladesh, Rwanda, Burundi and Haiti through low-cost, community-based solutions.
Concern Niger’s Lahiya Yara (‘Life of a Child’) program aims to reach approximately 300,000 mothers and children under five years old with proven life-saving interventions to address diarrheal disease, malaria, pneumonia, and malnutrition by strengthening the health system, and by investing in intensive community-level activities to promote sustained behavior change. Read the rest of this entry »
Mukarurangwa Cecile, a community health worker in Marebe, Rwanda visits the home of Valentine, 3, to examine the cause of his fever. Photo: Esther Havens, Rwanda.
By Jennifer Weiss – Health Advisor, Concern Worldwide US
According to estimates from the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly one million children do not reach their fifth birthday because they die from malaria each year. Ninety percent of these deaths occur in Africa, where malaria remains the number one killer of young children. An additional 30 million pregnant women and their newborns are also at risk of malaria infection, which may lead to stillbirth, spontaneous abortion, low weight, and neonatal death.
Pregnant women and children die from malaria because they lack access to low-cost, effective solutions to both prevent and treat the disease. Concern is working to change this through our USAID-funded Child Survival programs in Rwanda, Burundi, and Niger, which provide life-saving malaria prevention and control to a total of 1.2 million women and children. Read the rest of this entry »
By Thomas Fergusson, Water Engineer for Concern in Haiti
Boy is bathed at a Concern-supported stabilization center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, just before leaving for home. Photo: Megan Christensen, Concern Worldwide
The observance of World Water Day this year (March 22), with its spotlight on urban emergencies, comes at a time when many humanitarian aid and relief organizations are contemplating—in some cases, studying in-depth—the growing trend of large emergencies shifting from rural to urban settings.
Increasingly erratic weather patterns, which some link to man-made climate change, are causing droughts and floods that are driving millions to leave the countryside for cities.
In Haiti, in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, Concern Worldwide had to tackle most of these issues in highly challenging circumstances, with Port-au-Prince qualifying as a highly impoverished urban setting experiencing a major emergency albeit in extraordinary circumstances. The city was one of the most challenging environments for water and sanitation before the earthquake; the massive disaster only made the situation exponentially more complicated. Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
Some 12 percent of all children in Malawi do not survive to celebrate their fifth birthday. Photo: Concern Worldwide
I have arrived in the Concern office in Lilongwe, capital of Malawi. The goal in the next week is to gather as much information on the current health situation of mothers and children in Malawi, and develop a program strategy about how to address the problems.
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 »
In Cite Okay neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, poor sanitation and water quality have been a major threat to the health of the community. Concern has been working with local organizations, youth volunteers and health committees to clean up neighborhoods and promote clean, litter free environments.
It is difficult to imagine that just 700 miles from United States soil, mothers are still dying in childbirth and children continue to pay the ultimate price for contracting such preventable diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition.
For Haitians, the health situation is the worst in the western hemisphere. To make matters worse, the country is threatened by extreme weather conditions including major hurricanes and tropical storms that are destroying infrastructure and uprooting livelihoods. Read the rest of this entry »
“Karibuni” from Tanzania, (which means “Welcome to all of you!” in Swahili). In this video clip, Concern’s child-to-child hygiene and sanitation club of Kigarama Primary School in Tanzania’s Ngara District does -- to my ears anyway -- a pitch perfect rendition of “Karibuni” in song.
As is the case in many parts of the world, the impoverished nation of Burundi is struggling to recover from 12 years of civil war that severely damaged its economy and infrastructure for delivering basic social services such as education, water, and health care. Concern began working in Burundi in 1994, just after the onset of the war, and has stayed on to r […]
Sumi, 11, remembers what it was like to go to a school that did not have drinking water or latrines. “Being thirsty was so painful,” she said. “Not being able to use the toilet all day was painful too, especially during my long walk home from school.” […]
Rose Kawanambulu, 61, looks after five orphans on her own. Like so many in rural Zambia, she relies on her crops to provide for her family and to pay for tuition to send one of her children to a nearby teaching college. Recently, Rose planted maize near her village only for it to be flooded by heavy rains, devastating their source of both food and income. […]
What started out as a trip to inspect the results of an investment the Xerox Foundation made in the Tanzanian operations of Concern Worldwide turned out to be an inspiring example of how similar people are the world over. The stated purpose of my trip to Ngara, Tanzania, miles from the Rwanda border, was to see the fruits of an innovation grant in a remote farming community where most people survive from harvest-to-harvest if not day-to-day. Concern workers there had a hunch that Lantana plants repelled mosquitoes that carry malaria which is the number one cause of death in these remote hills in northwest Tanzania. Based on their initial findings, they may just be on to a big idea. I learned all about their experiments and results, of course, but I learned so much more. Here is a recap. Read the rest of this entry »
