HEALTH
Aid to Burkina is involved in several areas of Health improvement:
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Clean water provision
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Sanitation
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Medical Clinics
Clean water provision: Wells
To date Aid to Burkina has helped provide clean water by digging wells in 8 locations, most in the remote villages around Bobo-Dioulasso in the South west of Burkina Faso. These wells have removed the need for villagers to look for water in the dry months when their wells no longer supply them with water, and in the rainy season when their shallow wells become contaminated with human and animal waste.
Each well can supply between 3,000 -4,000 people with clean drinking water.
Clean water provision: Water Filters
In 2018 we joined with Amor Europe and Sawyer International and began a project in the village of Kodeni providing 300 families with water filters based around the children attending the school we had built with the help of churches and schools in Folkestone.
In 2019 we were able to supply every family in one small tribe with a population of about 800 peoples, known as the Ble (pronouced Blay) with a water filter.
Early results showed a marked decrease in water borne diseases among the children and families of those using the water filters within the first two weeks in line with experience in other countries that Sawyer have been involved with.
For more information about our Water Filter project please click here
Sanitation
93% of people living in villages in the rural community have no access to a toilet
In the rainy season human and animal waste is carried by flooding into the shallow wells that have been dug for drinking water, contaminating the source and causing diarrhoeal illness that can be fatal for the very young and infirm.
In 2017 Aid to Burkina started a pilot project to assess the impact of providing toilet facilities in the village of Bana on the health of the population during the rainy season in particular. 12 toilets have been provided with the village community digging and lining the pit with cement and Aid to Burkina providing the remainder of the structure. You can see some of the finished toilets in the pictures below.
Sanitation
Sanitation
Medical Clinic
Burkina Faso spends 5% of its very small GDP on health - about half that of the UK which has a very much higher GDP. There is only one doctor for every 20,000 people and they are concentrated in cities and larger towns. Health care is so expensive that many people put off seeking medical help until it is too late.
In the UK we have 56 times the number of doctors available to the population than are available in Burkina Faso and even remote communities in the UK can have access to medical advice without cost.
In 2008 Aid to Burkina raised funds to build a small medical facility for the village of Bana, about 15 km outside of the city Bobo-Dioulasso in South-west Burkina Faso. This clinic has been very successful in providing earlier intervention particularly for children. People travel on foot from a 20 km radius in order to be seen by our Nurse Practitioner, Monsieur Kafando, who provides subsidised, cost-effective care from early morning until late in the evening.
The building was funded in large part by the patients of Annfield Plain Surgery in the North East of England and the toilets were funded by a branch of the Rotary Club UK.
