A couple weeks ago, Maman Boukari sat alone in her home holding her young son, Latifou, who was burning up with a high fever. She felt like she had no options, nowhere to go to get her son the care he needed.
Last week, all of that has changed.
Latifou being consulted by a Community Health Worker, Azoumi Soule.
Integrate Health, in partnership with the Togolese Ministry of Health, is thrilled to announce the launch of the Integrated Primary Care program in five new clinics serving 40,000 people in the District of Bassar in northern Togo.
Today Maman Boukari has a dedicated Community Health Worker to care for her children. Azoumi is a newly trained, professional Community Health Worker who serves the Boukari family, as well as 150 of their neighbors, in the rural village of of Kaliwadé near the Sanda-Afohou clinic.
Azoumi, thanks to the support of the Togolese Ministry of Health and Integrate Health, is equipped with a backpack that carries all of the tools she needs to provide lifesaving care to mothers and children in her community. Supervised by a qualified nurse and paid a fair salary, Azoumi has single-handedly brought access to healthcare to her community.
Community Health Worker Salimatou is handed her backpack by the Sansale village chief, ceremoniously starting her service in the Sansale community.
But Azoumi does not work alone. She is part of a team of 32 new Community Health Workers who were deployed last week across 101 villages in the Bassar District of Togo to begin providing lifesaving, home-based care.
These Community Health Workers work closely with the amazing clinic staff, nurses, and midwives across five clinics in the Bassar District. The staff of these five clinics recently completed an initial training and will receive ongoing clinical mentorship and supportive supervision from a trained nurse mentor. In addition, these clinics will overhaul their procurement systems to ensure all essential medications are always in stock. They will benefit from new equipment and infrastructure improvements. And most importantly, they will offer care free of charge to women and children under the age of five.
While this sounds like a big investment, this launch of Integrate Health’s model in five clinics in the Bassar District is a replication of the successful pilot implemented by Integrate Health and the Ministry of Health in the Kozah District over the past three years. This pilot proved that the entire package of services can have a dramatic impact on reducing mortality and can be delivered for only $10 per capita. As a result of this success, the Ministry of Health is partnering with Integrate Health to extend this approach to 200,000 people across five districts over the next three years.
The first step of this replication is underway. With the launch of five new clinics in the Bassar District last week, Integrate Health doubled the population it serves from 40,000 to 80,000 people. As a result, Maman Boukari has options. Now, when her son gets sick, she calls Azoumi, her Community Health Worker, or visits her clinic and know that she will receive quality care free of charge. Everything has changed for Maman Boukari and her family, thanks to your support. Join us in celebrating this momentous occasion: the expansion of lifesaving care to some of the most remote, rural communities in northern Togo and the beginning of a revolution in how healthcare is delivered throughout Togo and across Sub-Saharan Africa.