Global Partners in Hope works in various countries across West Africa to provide necessary healthcare, medical training, and access to clean water. Their work is helping women safely deliver babies in areas where women’s healthcare infrastructure is nonexistent. Learn more about their work creating sustainable health facilities and transforming communities here!
What are some of the health challenges women face in West Africa?
There are staggering infant mortality rates in a lot of areas of West Africa. Life expectancy for infants is low because of a lack of access to medical care— many mothers don’t have access to ultrasounds to learn if their baby is developing properly. Babies are being delivered unassisted by anyone with medical training, making it extremely high risk if there is any sort of complication. Upwards of 70% of women in these rural communities are illiterate, which means that they only get information via word of mouth. When you don’t have access to information on your health, you don’t know how to live a healthy life. We envision a world where women don’t just survive in West Africa, but they thrive. For that to happen, prenatal care and women’s health services need to be made available.
What kind of support do you provide?
We focus on sustainable healthcare partnerships, which means working with existing in-country NGOs that have the ear of the community, the trust of women living there, and the proper training to provide support. That NGO and the members of the community act as the initial program development as we build a health center. We turn over the operations, staffing, and program management to our local partners. The first step is always building a clean water well, because if water is making people sick then it’s impossible to deal with any other issues. Community health and life satisfaction improve drastically once clean water is available. Looking ahead, we have plans to expand our clean water and health care development in other parts of French-speaking West Africa.
Can you tell me about the educational and employment aspect?
At our smaller health centers, we start with a few essential staff members like a director and midwife. Our staffers identify promising individuals who have an interest in the medical field, and we provide opportunities for education and training to become healthcare professionals. We have individuals enrolled in nursing school, someone training to run a new health center in Togo, and more. The training is handled on a case-by-case basis depending on their interests, with the ultimate goal of them returning to work in our health centers and furthering our mission. We want all of our health centers to become self-sustaining and to be envisioned by those who use it and understand the needs of the area.
What is the best part of your job?
When I started 15 years ago, I was not well versed in international development work. I have been able to learn so much, and now one of the things I absolutely love is helping people prepare for their trips to West Africa. Navigating the unknown can be overwhelming for people traveling somewhere so far away, especially if they aren’t accustomed to trips of this nature, and I get to help people feel confident and comfortable in their journey. When people return, I talk to them about all that they experienced and help them process it. People have a new perspective on life when they return from a trip to West Africa; you have a renewed sense of gratitude for the simple things like running water. After a life changing trip like that, people want to make changes in their own lives and I help them take that next step of engaging in our work.