Eni Foundation in Congo and Angola – Latest news on projects
The Foundation’s commitment towards children’s health continued in the 2nd semester of 2009, as demonstrated by the results of the Salissa Mwana and Kento Mwana projects in the Republic of Congo and the Kilamba Kiaxi project in Angola.
Salissa Mwana
The rehabilitation and fitting of the remote healthcare centers continued and by the end of the year a total of 22 centers will be completed, 10 of which in 2009. Besides the structural activity, over 600 vaccination campaigns will be conducted, more than 50 information and communication sessions and meetings with local communities will be held, as well as 155 healthcare workers will be trained through some 70 training sessions.
Two years after the launching of the project, as of September 30th, 615 villages were reached in the rural areas of the three regions, thanks also to the use of 12 medical mobile units (9 land-based and 3 water-based) and some 56,000 vaccinations were carried out (35,000 of which in the first 3 quarters of the year).
The Salissa Mwana (Let’s protect the children) project, which lasts 4 years, aims at contributing to the improvement of the healthcare of children in the Kouilou, Niari and Cuvette regions (some 200,000 children between the ages of 0 and 5) through a wide-ranging vaccination and epidemiological screening program against the main infant diseases; the rehabilitation and fitting of 30 remote primary healthcare centers; the training of local healthcare personnel and the mobilization of the population on prevention.
Kento Mwana
The project’s development continues in the same 3 regions interested by the Salissa Mwana project. The services of Pointe Noire’s molecular biology laboratory have been strengthened. By the end of the year the project will be able to rely on 12 primary healthcare centers as well as 5 neonatal centers at the hospital facilities found in the 3 regions to provide counseling and screening for pregnant women. Moreover, more than 280 healthcare professionals will be trained through 36 training days.
As of September 30th 2009, almost 2,900 pregnant women referred to these healthcare centers. Almost all of them took the HIV test, and all those who tested positive (4.8%) accepted to follow the protocol.
The Kento Mwana (Mother and Child) project, which lasts 4 years, is aimed at reducing the vertical transmission of HIV from 30% to 2% in the maternal and infant population (estimated at some 65,000 mother and child pairs) living in the Kouilou, Niari and Cuvette regions. The project relies on the logistics and network of healthcare facilities set up by the Foundation for the Salissa Mwana project in the three regions.
Kilamba Kiaxi
The project became fully operational following the collaboration agreements signed with the Angolan Ministry of Health and with the Ngo Obra da Divina Providencia. As a result, the maternal-infant medical care plan as well as the training of the medical personnel of the 7 healthcare centers involved by the project were launched and 6 ambulances to be used for emergency transportation of patients were purchased.
The Kilamba Kiaxi project, which lasts 2 years, has the aim of reducing the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases and of those caused by malnutrition in the Municipality of Kilamba Kiaxi in Luanda, by strengthening existing primary healthcare facilities, monitoring the most widespread pathologies and setting up immunization and nutrition education programs. The target population is estimated at some 150,000 children between the ages of 0 and 5.
December 2009
Contacts
Eni Foundation
Piazzale Enrico Mattei 1
00144 Roma - ITALIA
Tel 06 59824108 - Fax 06 59822106
e-mail: enifoundation@eni.com
Salissa Mwana - Project aimed at improving child healthcare in the remote areas of Congo
Eni Foundation is conducting wide-ranging vaccination and epidemiological screening program against the principal infant disease in the Kouilou, Niari and Cuvette regions.
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