We’re training community health workers in Mali to spot and treat life-threatening hunger in remote communities.
Ibrahim Sangare has supervised community health workers in Mali for four years. He travels hundreds of kilometres on his motorbike every day to reach hard to access villages in the Kita region of Mali. Ibrahim trains community health workers in the region to be able to detect and treat life-threatening hunger.
Some of the villages Ibrahim works in are 25km from the nearest health centre. For families with sick children, it’s almost impossible to get access to malnutrition treatment, without walking many miles or using motorbike taxis.
Traveling bumpy roads to reach vulnerable communities
No matter the weather, Ibrahim travels countless miles on bumpy roads, to supervise community health workers and offer them support.
“I travel around the area on my motorbike, passing through different villages to help the community health workers with any technical difficulties and I try and find a solution if I can,” says Ibrahim.
Ibrahim continuously monitors the community health workers he has trained, to ensure they are meeting the needs of the sick children.
“I supervise them in their daily tasks,” Ibrahim explains. “If a sick child comes when I am there, I follow them in their tasks,” he continues. “If I find an error, I explain how to do it and how they can avoid errors.”
Reduction in dropout rates
Since Ibrahim started his job four years ago, he has witnessed many positive changes in the treatment of malnutrition.
“Having malnutrition treatment within the community has greatly reduced malnutrition and other illnesses in the community.”
Ibrahim has built a strong rapport with the community health workers he works with and gets on well with them.
“We have known each other for a long time,” he says. “I understand perfectly how they work.”
Thanks to people like Ibrahim, and Action Against Hunger’s intervention, we have trained community health workers who live in the heart of rural communities. Now, families can access the life-saving treatment they need for their children, much closer to home.
“We must continue this work, it’s really important,” says Ibrahim. “My motivation for this job is knowing that I am helping to save lives,” he adds.
We’re grateful for our partnership with The Innocent Foundation for making our work in Mali possible. The foundation contributed £900,000 from 2013 -2016 to a unique research study, used to press for global change, helping to reduce the number of children globally suffering from malnutrition.