Fighting pneumonia in Senegal
Community health approach will save thousands of lives

Ngor Dione, right, a community health worker in the village of Koulouk Mbada in Senegal’s Thiadiaye district, discusses new treatment of pneumonia and other acute respiratory infections.  With training provided by USAID and other partners, villagers receive prescriptions for antibiotics from community health workers without having to travel long distances. Photo: R. Nyberg, USAID

A pilot activity funded by USAID, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and Pfizer could save the lives of 2,500 small children in Senegal alone each year.  In a country where over 12 percent of children die before their fifth birthday, and 20 percent of these to pneumonia and related conditions, this is big news.

As most cases of pneumonia are found in villages where there are no doctors or nurses, the challenge has been to bring immediate care to the people so they do not have to travel long distances to get the medicine they need to survive.

During a study conducted in the districts of Kédougou, Khombole, Thiadiaye, and Vélingara, medical experts trained community health workers to properly diagnose and treat children under five years of age who suffer from pneumonia and other acute respiratory diseases. Senegal is the first African country where community health workers have been trained to prescribe antibiotics (Cotrimoxazol) to treat these illnesses.

The study found that a well trained, supervised, and adequately equipped community health worker at a health hut could correctly diagnose and treat young patients. Virtually all of them in the study did just that.

Results were so good that health representatives from several West African countries attended a conference in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, to learn more about this community approach to health care. At the ceremony, Pfizer, USAID, the World Health Organization, WHO, and UNICEF launched a partnership to fund the expansion of the training and treatment activity throughout Senegal.

By the end of 2006, under the leadership of the Ministry of Health (MOH), 18 districts in Senegal had already trained community health workers in diagnosing and treating pneumonia at the health hut level, close to patients’ homes.  New training materials drafted and validated by MOH child survival experts are ready to be produced so that USAID and its partners can assist the government in rolling out this life-saving approach to the rest of the country. To date, USAID has contributed more than $1.2 million to help make this happen.

Senegal was chosen for the pilot study because of its solid child survival program.