Salissa Mwana

Eni Foundation is currently carrying out its first healthcare project in favor of children in the remote rural areas of the Republic of Congo.

The project, named Salissa Mwana (Let’s protect the children), aims to contribute to the improvement of, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Fondation Congo Assistance, the healthcare of children in the Kouilou, Niari and Cuvette regions through: a wide-ranging epidemiological screening and vaccination program against the main infant diseases; the strengthening of the treatment capabilities of remote primary healthcare facilities; the training of local healthcare personnel; and the building of awareness on prevention among the population.

Launched in the second half of 2007, the project will be completed by the end of 2011 and involves rehabilitating 30 remote primary healthcare centers, equipping them with medical instruments and providing them with electricity and clean drinking water. Mobile medical units and vaccination centers, both land and water-based, are also being used to carry out the epidemiological screening and immunization activities.

The infant population (0-5 years) benefiting from the project is estimated to be approximately 200,000, representing 30% of the country’s children.
The project also relies on the support of the Department of Pediatrics of the University of “La Sapienza” in Rome that will be responsible, in particular, for training local healthcare personnel, carrying out the epidemiological screening of the infant population and supervising activities, as well as educating the local population in the prevention of transmittable diseases.