Speaking Technically: How the Climate Crisis is Driving a Nutrition Crisis
We recently spoke to Chief Program Officer Shawn Baker and Transforming Lives Program Director Philomena Orji about how the climate crisis is driving a nutrition crisis worldwide. Shawn leads Helen Keller’s efforts to strengthen food and health systems using scientifically proven solutions that are feasible, scalable, and equitable. Previously Helen Keller’s Country Director for Nigeria, […]
Climate-Smart Agriculture Supports a Community
Although Maliatou Nignan and her family had been farming for years, they still struggled to grow enough food to feed themselves or earn an income. As Maliatou says, they “worked hard on arid lands” in their community of Zoro in southern Burkina Faso. “We cultivated vegetables and white-fleshed sweet potatoes, but the yields were below our […]
Speaking Technically: Improving Support for Breastfeeding Mothers in Cambodia
We recently spoke to Chum Senveasna, Program Manager for Helen Keller Intl in Cambodia. Senveasna has supported our work on nutrition since 2016. He’s now leading our efforts to support breastfeeding mothers and improve nutrition for women and children across the country. What are the current recommendations for breastfeeding? Global health bodies including the World Health Organization have […]
Good Nutrition Starts with Moms
Nearly half of all child deaths are attributed to malnutrition – more than AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and COVID-19 combined. What many don’t realize, however, is that malnutrition often starts in the womb. In fact, every year, maternal malnutrition leads to an estimated 800,000 deaths among newborns. Ensuring Healthy Starts for Children The first 1,000 days of […]
Sierra Leone’s Fight Against Lymphatic Filariasis: Progress, Challenges, and Hope
This story was originally published on USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases | West Program website. It has been republished here with permission. Meet Kebie Koroma, a 14-year-old from the village of Kakamathor, located in Bombali district in the north of Sierra Leone. At the age of two, Kebie’s parents noticed something unusual on […]
Engaging Local Leaders to Fight Malnutrition in Cameroon
As a newborn, Rose Fenged’s nephew and godson, Wouffé, was malnourished and got sick frequently. Rose noticed that many other young children in her community in Cameroon’s Far North region were also underweight and likely not getting the nutrition they needed to support healthy growth and development. As Third Deputy Mayor for the Koza municipality, […]
Speaking Technically: Investing in the Fight Against Neglected Tropical Diseases
We recently spoke with Dr. Angela Weaver, Vice President for Neglected Tropical Diseases. Angela leads Helen Keller Intl’s work to control and eliminate these diseases – specifically lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), river blindness (onchocerciasis), schistosomiasis, intestinal worms (soil-transmitted helminths), and trachoma. Often called “diseases of poverty”, this group of parasitic and bacterial diseases can cause blindness, […]
Preventive Treatment Helps Build Healthy Futures for Children in Sierra Leone
Nurse Aminata Sama always dreamed of helping her community stay healthy. She thought her work would focus on helping people address minor health concerns and never imagined she would contribute to eliminating a devastating disease from Sierra Leone. One of three children, Aminata’s father was a security guard and her mother traded local palm oil. […]
Farming Expert Helps Displaced Nigerian Women Cultivate Food Security and Livelihoods
Rebecca Clement has been cultivating nutritious fruits and vegetables since she was a child. Growing up in a family of farmers in Garta, Nigeria, a small village in Adamawa state near the border with Cameroon, Rebecca began learning how to prepare soil for planting, to space and rotate crops, and to control diseases and pests […]
Saving Sight and Lives with Micro but Mighty Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a micronutrient that is critical to children’s growing bodies and brains. A single capsule of vitamin A – at a little more than $1 each – given to children twice a year until their fifth birthday can literally save their sight and lives. However, vitamin A-rich foods are also often either not […]
