The medical team of the KHW health centre in Bandiagara, managed by Madame Konyaté (on the right).
A training course for midwives at the maternity unit in Konobougou, Mali, built in 1991.
Health Centres
Since 1982, we have opened 14 health centres in almost all parts of the Republic of Mali / West Africa. These health centres ensure reliable medical care for mothers and their children – even in hardly accessible regions lacking infrastructure. Each centre has a maternity unit and a general hospital ward (maternité, dispensaire) and advises on preventive medical care and aftercare, a suitable diet for children, family planning and sex education. The immunisation walk-in units are particularly important, as they are often the only place within hundreds of kilometres where young mothers can obtain vital vaccinations for their children – protecting them against everyday threats like poliomyelitis (polio), tetanus, hepatitis, cholera and diphtheria.
Tue to our motto – to initiate and nurture responsible self-help − we transfer each health centre to the local authorities after an initial start-up period of one year. We continue to accompany each project with regular inspections – exchanging expertise with the medical and nursing staff. This ensures that all care functions are sustained in the long run and that we can provide immediate help with necessary medical equipment, furniture and medicine if shortages occur. One example: Over the next few years, health centres that are still dependent on inadequate energy supply network run by the state will receive a self-sufficient source of solar energy, thereby reducing unnecessary risks for night-time births or operations.
Over decades, our primary health care projects have demonstrated their immensely helpful and meaningful nature – in terms of preventive medical care and frequently when saving lives. Building, opening and supervising health centres in Mali will remain to be our humanitarian core task in the future, because a healthy life is a fundamental precondition for a happy life.