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Eliminating Neglected Tropical Diseases in Idjwi















The END Fund  in collaboration with Amani Global Works are working together in the Congolese island of Idjwi to implement a public-health program designed to control and eradicate neglected tropical disease (NTD).

Using well-trained staff and a network of community health workers, the first phase of the Idjwi project intends to distribute generously donated drugs over the next three years to those at risk of the three most prevalent NTDs – intestinal worms, schistosomiasis, and lymphatic filariasis. The project promotes school-based water, hygiene and sanitation education, advocates the use of bed nets, and empowers villages to become open- defecation-free zones. This collaborative project between the END Fund and Amani Global Works aims for sustainability, community engagement, and wider adoption of good practices.



Background on Idjwi: Population - Around 250k; Average Children Per Family - 8.5; Average Daily Wage - US$0.15; Average Life Expectancy - 25 years. Idjwi Island in Lake Kivu is a remote and neglected island in one of Africa’s most turbulent regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is home to an estimated 250,000 people and has garnered a reputation as a safe-haven for refugees fleeing conflict like the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the DRC M23 rebellion of 2013. While isolation has led to its peace, it has also led to its neglect by the broader health system in the DRC. Idjwi suffers from minimal civil infrastructure. Infectious disease is a public health problem on the island with malaria, diarrheal diseases, and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) plaguing much of the population. Dr. Jacques Sebisaho: "Three years ago, we started a health program visiting each household surrounding the hospital. On our first visit, we met Yvonne Kadoke, 8 years of old, who was taking care of her mother that suffers from a severe form of epilepsy, having between 30-50 seizures per day. She was the main family support and has never attended school. There were no plans for her, or for her brother, Muhindo, to have any formal learning structure. I tried to get Yvonne into a school not far from her home, but she was denied, considered too old for first grade. Last September, we realized that thanks to our nutrition program, a few other girls from the surrounding villages attended school. We identified 145 girls in a similar situation who have been out of school for family or financial reasons. Yvonne is now part of a community that she was not allowed into before and seems happy. Her mother is on a long-term treatment for epilepsy and her seizure episodes have dramatically decreased." The kids eat their lunch in the green buckets. Amani Global Works provides this sort of porridge filled with nutrients and protein that is offered every day to all the girls in school and to the children that come from the malnutrition program: 150 kids are a part of this initiative and they show up at lunch time from their various homes to get this supplementary feeding. The pill intake is done by swallowing the pill with no water and it should be administered twice a year consistently.




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