The purpose of this project is to reduce infant and mother morality rates in the department of Blolequin. Blolequin is a department in Ivory Coast that faces high infant mortality rates and around 95,000 people live beyond five kilometres from health facilities, housing some of the country’s most vulnerable populations whose lives were greatly affected by 2002’s civil war. The war resulted in a worsening of already precarious and impoverished situations in terms of not only increased infant mortality rates, but weakening health infrastructures, causing increased food insecurity, and pushing chronic malnutrition rates above 38% in the western part of the country, where Blolequin is located. Located in the forested area of the Blolequin department of Ivory Coast, bordering Liberia, the project focuses on health in 13 villages in and around the towns of Blolequin, Doke, and Diboke.
Infants and mothers’ survival is ensured through improving maternal and infant health knowledge and practices in targeted communities on issues such as immunisation, malnutrition, infectious diseases, child illnesses and the like, and increasing the use of maternal and infant health services in targeted communities, specifically focusing on areas that lack access to health services. This is a community-based approach that includes training volunteers on health issues, assisting clubs for mothers, and supporting local primary health care services.
The project directly targets 12,850 infants, pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and women of childbearing age.