WUTENE,Inc.

WUTENE has developed three programs which include, the Rural Community Health Program, the Education Program, and the Training Program.

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Before it's Too Late

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 Project Summary

Our first project, “Before it’s Too Late” is a component of the Rural Community Health program which aims to support maternal and child health services. After working with many international institutions, Dr. Dounebaine, one of the founders, created a program to address the the high maternal mortality rate in his home country, Chad. His previous experiences as a medical epidemiologist with many international institutions drive this project's initiatives.

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“Before it’s too Late” will be implemented in the remote areas of Chad to reduce the burden of high mortality rate among mothers and children in the regions. This project will be implemented over 3 years in 2 phases in the rural health districts. We will eventually expand our programs to other countries.

 

Project Background

The Republic of Chad, located in central Africa has one of the most precarious health systems; a WHO report showed that Chad with an estimated 856 deaths per 100,000 live births, is the second sub-Saharan African country with the highest maternal mortality rate (MMR) in 2015(1). The Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) aim to reduce the MMR to 70 deaths per 100,000 live births or less by 2030 (2). Direct causes of these deaths are mostly bleeding during or after childbirth, infections, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, unsafe abortions, and other delivery complications. However, these causes happen mainly because of lack of health education, and inadequate healthcare services. Women die in the regions of Chad because usually they visit health care facilities when it is already complicated and too late. A national survey showed that in 2014, only 31% of pregnant women attended the fourth and last antenatal care visit; 34% of deliveries were attended by qualified birth attendants; and only 22% of deliveries were done in the health services (3). In addition, Chad has one of the highest child mortality rate in Africa. According to the UNICEF report, the under-five mortality rate in Chad was 139 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015. Although, The SDG is targeting an under-five mortality rate of 25 or less deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030. Once more, most cases of child deaths are caused by conditions or diseases (4) that are preventable and treatable using simple, quality-delivered and cost-effective interventions.

To support the local health services, WUTENE will identify, and train community health volunteers to track pregnant women in their communities, screen them for at-risk pregnancies and refer them to the health center for antenatal care visits; they will also deliver health education to women of reproductive age and their partners on different subjects such as Pre and Postnatal cares, family planning, immunization, STDs, Hygiene, and sanitation. They will also be the focal point for diseases surveillance and reproductive health in their respective communities, they will assist and support the local health centers and may deliver simple treatment and care.