2014 PROJECTS

  1. Ivory Coast – Fighting Malnutrition    

  2. Nigeria – Niger Hospital and Diagnostic Center

  3. Roman Scholarships – Scholarships for African priests and seminarians

  4. D.R. Congo – Medical Clinics expansion

Ivory Coast

Local Partner:  The Association for Social and Cultural Development  - (La Association pour le Développement Social et Culturel)  - ADESC

Beneficiaries: About 5,525 Bingerville residents , mostly young women.  The indirect beneficiaries who will notice an immediate impact will be the families of 14,000 people in the area

Harambee Contribution:  110,000 Euros

Activity: giving hygiene and nutrition training courses for women through home health visits and education, and building a well for the hospital

Description: ADESC was established in 1984 in Abidjan, with the aim of improving the living conditions of the population in the Bingerville region.  In 1998, ADESC was able to build the Ilomba Rural Center in this area as a resource for the local people.  There various healthcare initiatives, including campaigns against child malnutrition, hygiene and nutrition courses for mothers, and professional training in textile manufacturing have been offered ever since. Literacy courses and other educational activities to reduce the number of school dropouts in the area have also been offered.  In recent years , Ivory Coast has experienced varying degrees of instability with accompanying deterioration in living conditions of the population, particularly in rural areas such as Bingerville.   But the 2002 civil war created a still more serious crisis since it caused the loss of coffee and cocoa export capability, the pillar of Ivory Coast's economy, with its consequent impact on the quality of life.   With a tropical, humid climate and a lack of infrastructure of all kinds, the Bingerville region's living conditions have gotten progressively worse.  

The Project: The Association for Social and Cultural Development  - ADESC  proposes to address the local needs by improving the living conditions of Bingerville citizens in the following ways:

  • through a widespread campaign against malnutrition by giving hygiene and nutrition training courses for women;  and,  upon purchasing a vehicle for this purpose, by performing home health visits for medical care to approximately 5,000 people
  • by targeting women between 18 and 35, to end the poverty cycle through vocational training that prepares them to be self-supporting and contribute to the local economy. students, coordinated by the Polish Harambee Committee.

NIGERIA

Niger Hospital and Diagnostic Centre NFH

Location: Enugu city ,  Enugu State / Nigeria

Harambee contribution:  60,000 Euros for phase 1

Entity:  Niger Foundation Hospital and Diagnostic Centre (NFH), was set up in 1990 to promote and improve the health status of a wide range of people in  Enugu, the capital of Enugu State (in the south eastern part of Nigeria better known as Biafra). At present the hospital offers the following services: consultation, diagnostic and therapeutic services; radiology services; laboratory services ; and in-patient facilities for 40 persons. 

Background: The quality of healthcare delivery in Nigeria is low. A very central problem is the lack of adequate infrastructure and equipment as well as competent manpower. Some studies suggest that there is a death rate of 5-10% for major surgery, and that approximately 7 million patients undergoing surgery each year have major complications, including 1 million that die during or immediately after surgery.  It is a fact that many inhabitants of Enugu do not have effective access to surgical care. The project seeks to focus on improving Niger Foundation Hospital's ability to carry out basic to intermediate-level surgical procedures, purchasing surgical instruments, and raising the professional standard of surgical nurses and doctors. Niger Hospital and Diagnostic Centre NFH has a special concern for maternal and infant mortality. Although the statistics have improved slightly in the past few years, the mortality rates in this area are still very high. Much of this is reflected in the low percentage of births that are attended to by skilled personnel. In the last year the hospital had almost 3.922 pre-natal visits. The number of patients received was limited by the facilities at our disposal. The creation of a Mother and Child Centre as an extension of the hospital will increase the capacity of the hospital and raise the standard of the health services offered to women and children.  In addition, an important aspect of the services provided by Niger Hospital and Diagnostic Centre NFH is the health information distributed in the disadvantaged areas on topics related to personal hygiene and other basic health needs. The general objectives of the project are to enhance the early detection of wide-spread viral infectious diseases, such as hepatitis, HIV, etc… Certain viral infections such as Hepatitis A and E are a considerable health risk in Nigeria, especially in rural areas. For example WHO statistics estimate that 20 million Nigerians live with hepatitis. Many of these infections spread due to poor hygiene practices. In addition, they often go undetected due to lack of available diagnostic equipment. Given the fact that health education and good hygienic practices play an important role in the prevention of these diseases, a unit that has the capacity to improve diagnosis and provide a companion programme of health awareness can play an important role in fighting infectious diseases in Enugu. 

ROMAN SCHOLARSHIPS

Scholarships for African priests and seminarians to study in Rome

Location:  In the heart of Rome (in Piazza di Sant'Apollinare, near Piazza Navona and on Via dei Farnesi near the famous Palazzo Farnese)

Entity:  Pontifical University of the Holy Cross

Harambee contribution: 13,500 Euros per recipient

Background:  The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross was born in Rome from the desire of St. Josemaría Escrivá , founder of Opus Dei,  to promote a center of higher education for ecclesiastical studies that would be at the service of the whole Church.  In 1984, his successor, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, with the blessing of John Paul  II, brought St. Josemaría's dream to completion by inaugurating the Roman Academic Center, later know as the Pontifical Atheneum of the Holy Cross.  In July 1998, Pope John Paul II granted it the title of University.   It currently has Schools of Theology, Canon Law, Philosophy and  Social Institutional Communications.  Many bishops from around the world send priests and seminarians of their respective dioceses to Rome hoping to provide them with a deep scientific and spiritual formation.  The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross gives such formation through a broad and thorough work of research and formation in the ecclesiastical sciences, thus helping dioceses in the whole world to cooperate fully with the evangelizing mission of the Church.

Direct  Beneficiaries:    Priests and seminarians from dioceses in Africa  who cannot access ecclesiastical studies in Rome due to lack of funds .  The "Scholarships for African priests and seminarians to study in Rome" Project Goal is $185,500.  This will provide 10 full scholarships or up to 25 partial scholarships.  

Indirect  Beneficiaries:   Thousands of men, women and children living in dioceses throughout the African continent, in such places as Benin, Cameroon, Burkina-Faso, Ivory Coast, Congo, Liberia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and more.
 

Democratic Republic of CONGO

Medical clinics expansion and nursing education project

Location:   Mont-Ngafula y Selembao, municipalities of the Lukunga district around Kinshasa

Entity:  The Centre Congolais de Culture de Formation et Developpement - CECFOR

Harambee Contribution:  285,000 Euros

Direct  Beneficiaries:   over 2,000 women and 10,000 children a year;  425 nurses

Indirect  Beneficiaries:   500,000 the general population of the Mont- Ngafula region of Kinshasa

Background:  The Centre Congolais de Culture de Formation et Developpement - CECFOR , gave rise in 1991 to Monkole Hospital Center, in the Mont- Ngafula region of Kinshasa .  Monkole Hospital currently serves more than 80,000 patients a year; nearly 50,000 are women.  At least 70% of Monkole Hospital patients live in extreme poverty.

The city of Kinshasa has a population of 10 million people , who are nourished with the most basic farm products.  In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 74% of the population is malnourished and 80 % live below the poverty line. The fragile state of general health puts  demands  on the public healthcare system that it simply cannot meet due to the lack of infrastructure, resources , and trained personnel.

Faced with such dire conditions, Monkole Hospital Center has already responded by offering  4 general hospital services : maternity , pediatrics , internal medicine and surgery at three medical clinics (Eliba, Kimbondo and Moluka ), in outlying areas around Kinshasa, and training programs for doctors, nurses and assistants.

The project:

Through CECFOR, Monkole Hospital Center now proposes to :

  • Improve the equipment and medical training at the Eliba, Kimbondo and Moluka outpatient clinics, for the sake of providing better preventive medicine, especially for children under 5.
  • Raise the academic standard at the Higher Institute of Nursing Science (ISSI) to university level through improved teacher preparation and increase the number of students attending the program.