HKI and Partners Provide Children in Guinea Vaccination Coverage, Deworming and Vitamin Supplements

June 13, 2008, Conakry, Guinea - Helen Keller International (HKI) and partners collaborated with the private sector to address the high maternal and under five mortality rates in the country by providing vitamin A supplementation, deworming and vaccination outreach during a nationwide child survival campaign.

The Republic of Guinea is one of the least developed countries in the world and is ranked 160 th out of 177 countries in the United Nations’ Human Development Index (2007). An estimated 25% of children under five suffer from vitamin A deficiency (VAD) which results in impaired growth and immune system function, and can lead to blindness and death. Biannual vitamin A supplementation (VAS) can reduce child mortality up to 23-34%.

Since 1998, the Ministry of Public Health in Guinea has supported biannual VAS to all children 6–59 months of age, with financial, technical and logistical support from development partners including HKI, UNICEF and WHO and critical funding provided by the Government of Canada, through the development funding agency CIDA.

During national Child Health Weeks, a packet of life-saving interventions are distributed, including VAS, deworming with mebendazole, and vaccination outreach. This packet costs less than 0.15 USD to deliver and reaches almost 2 million children throughout the country. HKI focuses its efforts on hard-to-reach and underserved areas, including Kankan, Telimele, Mamou and Labé, where vaccination coverage and vitamin A coverage are traditionally low.

This year, the Orange Foundation, corporate Foundation of the telecommunications company, and Orange Guinea, joined these partners to support the child survival campaigns. Orange Foundation provided a grant in the framework of its programme to fight visual impairment. Orange Guinea also distributed free SIM cards to every health district to facilitate result reporting. Forty staff members also volunteered to help mobilize parents, distribute vitamin A capsules to eligible children, and monitor distribution teams to ensure accurate reporting.

The Child Health Week campaign was launched on June 13 th at a local health center in Conakry. The governor of Conakry opened the ceremony, which was attended by Mme Souaré Mariama, the wife of the new Prime Minister, who was also representing Mme Henriette Conté, the First Lady, and representatives from the Ministry of Public Health, the Government of Canada, UNICEF, WHO, Orange Guinea, and HKI; local traditional and religious leaders also attended.

HKI continues to work closely with partners in the fight for child survival to help the people of Guinea achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals of eliminating extreme poverty and hunger and reducing child mortality.

Helen Keller said, “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it” – and HKI is doing this one vitamin A capsule at a time.

Back to latest news.

Learn more about HKI's programs in Guinea.