La Chaîne de l’Espoir supports its hospitals in West Africa

Although Africa is not currently experiencing an outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, the virus continues to spread, and health authorities are keeping a close watch on its evolution.

In Burkina Faso, La Chaîne de l’Espoir has been helping the CHU de Tengandogo (CHU-T) to open a cardiac surgery department for over a year , providing equipment and consumables, as well as a skills-building program for nursing staff.

Tengandogo University Hospital, which has been requisitioned to care for Covid patients, has asked La Chaîne de l’Espoir for support in strengthening its capacity to care for hospitalized Covid patients.

This support took the form of protective equipment for nursing staff, specific equipment for Covid-19 resuscitation beds, 3 intensive care respirators and resuscitation consumables. Financed entirely by La Chaîne de l’Espoir to the tune of 200,000 euros, the equipment arrived in Ouagadougou in two stages. The first part arrived at the end of June on a humanitarian flight chartered by the European Union, and the second at the beginning of July. A ceremony to officially hand over the equipment and consumables took place on Tuesday, July 14, in the presence of Aissata Tall, La Chaîne de l’Espoir representative in Burkina Faso, and Ferdinand Tiendrébéogo, Director General of the Tengandogo University Hospital.

Since April, La Chaîne de l’Espoir has been organizing videoconference workshops for medical and paramedical teams at CHU Tengandogo and La Chaîne de l’Espoir referents in resuscitation, nursing care, hygiene and quality, and biomedical maintenance.

Equipment and consumables dedicated to cardiac surgery have also been delivered, and will be operational as soon as Tengandogo University Hospital and La Chaîne de l’Espoir are able to resume this activity.

In addition, since 2018, in partnership with the associations Sentinelles, Bilaadga and the community radio station la Voix du Paysan, La Chaîne de l’Espoir has been implementing a project for the prevention and integrated care of noma and facial pathologies and malformations in Burkina Faso. Co-financed by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), this project provides medical and surgical care for around a hundred children suffering from noma, cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial malformations. The aim is also to increase the knowledge of medical and paramedical staff about these diseases, and to raise awareness among the population in order to limit the rumors and stigmatization to which people suffering from these diseases are subjected.

La Chaîne de l’Espoir is an international NGO founded in 1994 and present in nearly 30 countries. Its mission is to strengthen healthcare systems to give everyone, especially children, the same chances of survival and development.