06/07/2020
by Habibou Kabre, Mani Tese project coordinator
Like many African countries, Burkina Faso in recent months has also been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic which, as of 2 July 2020, caused about 962 infections and 53 deaths according to official data. Faced with this situation, the government has launched an appeal for solidarity and Mani Tese has made its contribution.
In particular, we delivered protection kits to 15 health and social promotion centers (CSPS) in three regions (Center, Center-South and Plateau Central) and conducted, in the same regions, seven radio programs to raise awareness of hygiene measures to be adopted.
Prevention and treatment services are guaranteed in health and social promotion centers. There are usually outpatient services, maternity with pre and postnatal care and a hospitalization area for the most serious cases awaiting transfer to a more suitable facility (in a CSPS one can remain under observation for a maximum 48 hours).
The materials distributed, for a total value of over 7,650,000 CFA (about 11,662 euros), included:
On the days of the delivery of the kits to each region, meetings were held with the governors of the regions concerned and with the regional pandemic management committees, and everyone welcomed this wave of solidarity with joy. The Governor of the Central Plateau region BENON YATASSAYE, in particular, also expressed her compassion and solidarity with the Italian people, hit hard by the pandemic, and then assured that this material will help to break the chain of transmission of the pandemic and strengthen the resilience of the health workers in the face of Covid-19.
A few weeks after the delivery of the kits, we went to see how things were going in one of the beneficiary CSPS. We therefore went to the CSPS in Tintilou Nord (Region of the Center) where Madame ZIDA, nurse and head of the center, welcomed us, who every day takes care of about 30 patients with only the help of another colleague. Madame ZIDA explained to us that the material received was very useful: with the surgical masks, the nursing staff was in fact able to protect themselves and receive patients adequately, hand washing devices were installed at the entrance of the CSPS, in the maternity ward, and the cleaning material contributed significantly to improving the hygiene of the center. “The kit really arrived at the right time, because the stock available for the CSPS was almost finished”, Madame ZIDA tells us, thanking us for thinking about her center which will continue to benefit from that material for a long time.
The other action we carried out was raising awareness of prevention through radio programs: the emphasis was on compliance with barrier measures and on the services available within the health centers. These broadcasts were conducted by professionals from the departments of health, justice and the civil registry of the municipalities, and after each program radio games were organized that guaranteed a small prize to the most attentive listeners. The programs, broadcast on 5 different radios to cover the territory of the three target regions, have been very successful, so much so that the scheduled broadcast time has often exceeded, or rather has been doubled, to allow the public to continue to intervene.
The donation of kits and radio programs, according to the mayor of the city of Komki Ipala which hosts the Tintilou Nord CSPS, have contributed on the one hand to raising awareness and on the other to strengthening the capacities of the CSPS in the fight against Covid-19, and he was so happy that he advertised our contributions to CSPS on 3 radios in the area.
This action is part of the activities of the project “Social and rights promotion of women and children for the improvement of health and civil status services”, co-financed by the European Union and which we are carrying out in consortium with ACRA Foundation (lead partner) and the NGOs Asmade, Community of Sant’Egidio and the federation of rural women of Burkina Faso (Fenafer-B).
