Your Generous Support Can Make a Difference
The activities of
the Foundation center around the construction of a new 300 bed general
hospital will serve as the focal and starting point for intervention.
While it is recognized that a long term investment in prevention is
the most productive and cost effective approach in the long run, literally,
the life and death needs cannot be ignores. The child who is suffering
from the complications of measles cannot be turned away while we are
vaccinating his sister or his neighbor. The young girl with appendicitis
cannot be asked to wait while we provide nutrition education to her
family to prevent malnutrition.
We come to share this vision with you and to enlist your support as
this exciting initiative is created with the potential to reach millions
of lives and to make a difference in the future not only of the people
of the Congo but also of others who live in other developing countries
of Africa.
• The average life expectancy is 45 years. In 2003, approximately
2.5% of the population was 65 years of older.
• The infant mortality rate in the Congo is 9.6%. in the United States, the rate is significantly smaller (0.6%)
• Nearly 20% of newborn children die before their fifth birthday.
• In 1995, the Congo had the biggest polio epidemic of the 20th Century
• There are 150,000 new infections of tuberculosis each year. " One out of every seven deaths is HIV/AIDS related.
• In 2001, there were eight times as many HIV/AIDS related deaths in the Congo(120,000) than in the United States (15,000), despite the fact that the population of the Congo is 1/5th the size of the U.S.
• Malaria is the number-one disease in DR Congo in terms of morbidity and mortality.
• For children under 5, mortality attributable to malaria is 46%.
• In 2003, according to the Integrated Disease Surveillance (MOH/WHO), the total number of malaria cases was 4,532,260. However, since scarcely 20% of the total population utilizes the health facilities, this number is an under-estimate. Also, diagnosis of malaria is poor due to limited microscopy and rapid testing.
• According to DR Congo's ant malarial treatment policy, sufadoxine-pyrimethamine is the medicine to be used as first-line treatment. Its efficacy is compromised in some areas, as the resistance of the Plasmodium falciparum parasite to this drug is around 20%. DR Congo is planning to move to artemisinin-based combination treatment in early 2005.
• Availability linked to quality product and affordability will be the main challenge.
• In 2002, the proportion of children under 5 sleeping under insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) was 0.5% (0% for pregnant women). Only 24 health zones out of 306 had introduced the use of ITNs. Some efforts are under way to improve the overall picture, but there still is a great need. The current cost is $6 per ITN while the population is ready to pay less than $1.
• Intermittent preventive treatment, like ITNs, deserves a titanic effort. In 2002, only 3 health zones out of 306 had adopted the use of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine for intermittent preventive treatment.
