Mission Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso, a land-locked Sahelian country, has one of the poorest health records in West Africa. Economic growth has not yet brought improvements to living conditions. More than 45% of the population live below the poverty line and children under five are particularly affected by malnutrition. Despite the political will to introduce an effective health system, access to primary healthcare remains very difficult for the majority of the population.

Project 1 :

Nutritional care for children - Diebougou, South-West Region

Activities :

In order to improve the way services are organised and the care provided to children, MdM’s activities
include:

• equipping 10 bedrooms with bednets and individual pantries as well as furnishing the meeting room;
• providing a fridge and cooking equipment;
• construction of a games area to promote the mobility and psychomotricity of malnourished children;
• funding the salaries for two child minders;
• organising a basic training session on malnutrition for everyone working in the Nutritional Recovery and
Education Centre (NREC).

Outlook :

• Carrying out a joint nutritional survey with Action Against Hunger.
• Training in nutrition – provided by the Institute for Research and Development – for the NREC staff and
different local participants.
• Building up emergency nutritional and medical supplies.
• Improving the partnership between the Commonwealth Medical Association, which will supply one nurse to look after malnourished children, and the NREC.
• Developing nutritional screening and monitoring for children in their villages.

Project 2 :

Access to oral healthcare - Dièbougou

Activities :

Given the marked absence of oral healthcare in the region, MdM has implemented a series of activities:

• setting up a dental practice (refurbishing premises etc) and training staff (educating a dentist at university);
• development of a prevention and awareness-raising programme on oral health in village schools in
Diebougou province;
• twice-weekly clinics at the dental practice since July 2006;
• staff training for the prevention programme.

Outlook :

• Autonomy for the dental practice.
• Continuation of the training of a nurse priest specialised in oral health at Ouagadougou University (currently
in 3rd year).
• Launching a mobile outreach unit to provide initial care in the remote villages.

Project 3 :

Mother and child health - Bogande health district, Gnagna province

Activities :

Having carried out a community health needs assessment, the MdM programme aims to:

• inform and raise awareness among the community;
• equip health services;
• train and/or provide refresher courses for the different levels of health professionals involved in mother and child health;
• support the local organisation, ICODEV, in the management, monitoring and evaluation of this type of
programme.

Outlook :

MdM will continue to accompany the local NGO, the district and the communities with a view to ensuring the activities are sustainable with local capacity. MdM will reinforce the theoretical training and practical application among DS professionals and the local NGO staff.

August 2008