“People living in the Taninnahun community are in a condition of extreme poverty and consequently they have no possibility to sometimes afford the cost of basic needs such as healthcare, education and food.”
So says Joseph Kobba, program director of our partner Rural Youth Development Organization – Sierra Leone (RYDO-SL), in his request to Bread and Water for Africa® for $6,000 in grant funding to rehabilitate the Kagbaima Health Center which serves thousands of impoverished residents in the surrounding community.
“The majority of the families in Kagbiama community and its surrounding area have an average number of six to eight children per household and they struggle to survive by doing farming activities,” Joseph told us. “Therefore, all the family incomes are basically oriented to first needs and in most cases, they cannot afford the cost of medical and school fees for their children.”
Joseph notes that “the average cost to treat diseases such as malaria, diarrhea dysentery, yellow fever, Typhoid fever, cold, abdominal pain, and injuries is estimated at $9” which doesn’t sound like much to Americans, but in a region of the country where “about four-fifths of the population lives in absolute poverty, with an income of less than $1 a day,” meaning a person would have to work more than nine days to pay their $9 medical bill.
And despite the critical need for the health center which provides medical care and life-saving treatment at no, or extremely low, cost, “as per RYDO-SL diagnosis through in-depth interviews, observations and group discussions the poor condition of the health facility made people to stay away from visiting the facility.”
So, instead of seeking healthcare from trained medical professionals, Joseph tells us that “any chronic or severe disease they have to depend solely on quacks and the untrained and limited indigenous knowledge.”
The need for the rehabilitation of the center, which offers general clinic care, along with antenatal, under 5-year-old, adolescent and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS services, is especially crucial for expectant mothers who “at time of feeling pain, they have to travel to a distant primary health center – but on their way the pregnant women face great problems.
“Sometimes the pregnant women are compelled to give birth to their babies under the open sky or under trees.
Joseph noted that there is only one main government hospital and a Catholic hospital in the entire Bo District, one of 16 districts in the country with a population of nearly 575,000 (as of 2015 census), with the nearest being 25 miles from the Kagbiama community.
Sierra Leone, with an infant mortality rate of 71.2 child deaths in the first year of life per thousand live births ranks fifth in the world following Afghanistan (101.3), Somalia (83.6), Central African Republic (80.5) and Equatorial Guinea (77.4), according to Statista (an online platform that specializes in data gathering).
And while Sierra Leone ranks near the top of the list in infant mortality, it ranks near the bottom in life expectancy at 187 (out of 200 countries) at 61.96 (both sexes), 63.70 (females) and 60.23 (males) which compares with 85.63 (both sexes) for number one, Hong Kong, number 48, the United States at 79.46 (both sexes) and Nigeria at number 200 at 54.64 (both sexes), according to Worldometer (a reference website that provides real-time statistics).
In the past year, more than 1,500 individuals living in ten surrounding villages with a combined population of approximately 4,850 inhabitants were treated at the Kagbiama Health Center which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, under the supervision of the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation and is staffed staff to two government healthcare workers and two volunteers.
And while the primary purpose of the clinic is, of course, to prevent and treat illness, Joseph notes that “As with all healthcare systems, sustainability is crucial to ensure the long-term sustainability of the project. Significant efforts will be in placed on liaising with the government and the community in promoting this successful model of healthcare.
“Also, funds raised from the minimal fees charged will be used toward the running cost of the facility,” said Joseph, adding, “patient numbers will be increased in subsequent years, generating further revenue.”
Since 2020, thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa® we were able to embark on similar rehabilitation projects in partnership with RYDO-SL on clinics in the Mokoba and Mokpendeh communities to which Joseph notes that today “The Mokoba Health Center is now contributing to the immediate healthcare services for the village and its environs” and that “incidents of sickness and death has decreased and referral cases had also decreased at both centers.”
The bottom line, says Joseph:
“If the health center is not rehabilitated the maternal mortality, child mortality and morbidity, dehydration and malnutrition rates will continue to increase day after day.
“Health is wealth, and for a community of four thousand eight hundred and fifty-four people – if deprived of local health delivery services – will return to the service of quack treatment.
“With a proper and adequate health delivery services at their disposal the people of Kagbiama community and the ten surrounding villages will in the long term improve their living conditions socially and expand avenue for income generation.”
Help Rehabilitate the Kagbaima Health Center
Your donation can make a life-saving difference for the Kagbiama community. With your support, we can provide essential healthcare services, reduce infant mortality, and improve living conditions for thousands of impoverished families.
