The Ivory Coast was for many years a model country for West Africa. However, since the start of the new millennium, political crises and a civil war brought the country to the brink of economic ruin. In the meantime, it has become one of the twelve poorest nations in the world. Although the state-run health services are slowly recovering, large parts of the 19 million population still have no access to adequate medical care. Since 2007, we have been supporting a model project for community health and the prevention of infectious diseases on the shores of a small reservoir in Raffierkro near Bouaké. Since 2008, we have also been involved in a project to combat neglected diseases at the Taabo reservoir in Tiassalé. The goal of the two projects is to improve the health of the village population through helping them to help themselves and revitalising the outlying health centres. Our emphasis is on the health of children and women, while combating diseases of poverty at the same time.
There are all too many of these neglected diseases in the Ivory Coast: almost all children are chronically infected with worms. In addition, more than half of the children living on the shores of open waters have bladder and bowel bilharzia. The children are quick to tire, more susceptible to other diseases and develop more slowly in physical and intellectual terms. There have been no prevention programmes in the Ivory Coast for many years, with the result that the people are totally defenceless against chronic diseases. Other health threats include river blindness, lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) as well as leprosy and Buruli ulcer. Many infants and small children die of treatable diarrheal diseases, malaria and types of pneumonia.
We have gained as our local partner, the Centre Suisse des Recherches Scientifiques (CSRS) in Abidjan, an organisation founded by Swiss people in 1952. The Cocody University in Abidjan supplies the technical know-how, enabling us to conduct our new projects exclusively with local experts.
The countryside around the town of Bouaké was badly affected by the civil war. The state-run health centres were either destroyed or plundered. The staff has fled. This situation is also true of the former leprosy village of Raffierkro and another four communities around the newly built dam. In this type of parlous situation, we provide help by strengthening the community self-help organisation in the provision of healthcare.
Many problems can be dealt with by simple means if medicines and the necessary know-how are available. Only a few patients have to travel to a health centre. We are establishing community pharmacies in the five communities and training volunteers to look after these pharmacies. They enable treatment to be provided for malaria, parasites and other infections on a cost price basis. In addition, we are promoting health education to prevent new diseases attributable to the reservoir (bilharzia, malaria and intestinal worms are a common occurrence in the neighbourhood of open waters). The children are regularly checked and treated for bilharzia, malaria and worms. Mor than 2000 children were examined in 2007-2009; almost 1500 worm and bilharzia treatments were needed.
