Where We Work

Burkina Faso

With more than 40% of Burkinabé living below the poverty line, healthcare and sound nutrition can both be inaccessible and unaffordable. For more than three decades, Helen Keller Intl has helped communities overcome these challenges by addressing the root causes of malnutrition and child mortality, controlling and eliminating neglected tropical diseases, and empowering women to build agency and financial stability. Working with government, civil society, and development partners, our resilience strategies reach all community members regardless of gender, age, race, religion, or ethnicity.

More than 40% of people live below the poverty line, making access to nutritious food a challenge.

Child mortality is very high, and nearly 56 out of every 1,000 children do not make it to their first birthday.

Burkina Faso was once endemic for 4 of the 5 priority neglected tropical diseases: trachoma, lymphatic filariasis, river blindness, schistosomiasis, and intestinal worms.

Together, we help communities create lasting change by:

Training women to develop and maintain their own nutrient-rich gardens, champion nutrition, and develop entrepreneurial skills.

Distributing biannual azithromycin to children aged 1–11 months, an antibiotic proven to help fend off disease.

Partnering with the Ministry of Health to ensure people receive essential medication to prevent and treat neglected tropical diseases with a goal of elimination by 2030.

Last year, we helped millions build lasting change

Supported more than 5,000 households in Sissili Province with training on improved technologies for production, storage, and processing of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, as well as counseling on nutrition best practices.

Reached more than 319,000 children aged 1-11 months with biannual doses of azithromycin.

Distributed more than 1.8 million treatments to protect children and family members through mass drug administration campaigns.