HEALTH PROMOTION AND
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Knowledge and skills are powerful tools, especially where resources are scarce.
With the right information and some confidence, communities can transform health, and the way it is delivered. We ensure that mothers, caregivers, and community members have the information they need to maintain good health, or to seek care when needed.
Given how essential community participation is to a thriving community health system in Mali, we help more community members, especially women, engage with their health system.
OUR STRATEGIES
Whether through debates on our popular Health Radio program or skits at community events, our team uses a variety of communication methods – interpersonal, mid-media or mass media – to share important health information that can help thousands of families prevent illness and maintain good health.
We also mark moments in the calendar like Mother’s Day, Global Handwashing Day, and World Breastfeeding Week, which give us opportunities to host community-wide events and reach much broader audiences with relevant health information.
We work with partner health centers to host Health Fairs each year, which allow us to reach hundreds more families with health information and services.
We offer free health consultations, malaria tests, diabetes testing, and cervical cancer screening for women of reproductive age. Our community health workers mobilize the community to attend and share important health information with those who do. During the fairs, we often serve over 1,000 patients in a single day. We also screen each family to see if they might be eligible for community health worker services and we let mothers know about our health savings groups.
The ASACO has a very important role in mobilizing the community to seek and receive care at the health center. They are also responsible for holding regular meetings to update their membership and the larger community, thereby ensuring accountability and transparency.
“Before today, I never knew about cervical cancer, but after speaking with the midwives and community health workers, I understand the importance of being screened for this disease. I will strongly encourage my friends, neighbors, and colleagues to visit a health center every year to get screened.”
– Mme. Outtara, community member
UPDATES
Reaching under-immunized children missed during COVID-19
In the first quarter of 2022, Bamako recorded nearly fifty suspected cases of measles. Public health officials collected samples and fourteen cases were confirmed at the national reference laboratory. Several of the 14 positive cases were concentrated in...
Vaccine Confidence: Results and Lessons Learned
Our project to assess and address vaccine confidence using a local, women-designed technology demonstrated that the use of participatory methods and tools to develop and disseminate voice-based social media messages improved both knowledge of, and confidence in,...
Improving community awareness and confidence in COVID-19 vaccines with local women-designed technology
As the world has seen and experienced during the pandemic, vaccinating populations requires much more than a vaccine. While the availability of a vaccine is one important component, a variety of factors can influence vaccination rates and coverage. Some, like...
Contact Us:
P.O. Box 51632
Durham, NC 27717
Hamdallaye ACI 2000
Rue 407, Porte 267
Bamako, Mali
info@malihealth.org
617.475.0995
Follow Us: