The MENTOR Initiative

Activities designed to encourage communities to analyse and lead on solutions that improve sanitation and reduce the risk of diarrhoeal diseases took place in five villages near Alindao, Central African Republic last week. This process called ‘Triggering’ is part of the Community-Led Total Sanitation approach that MENTOR also supported in South Sudan to end open defecation and the cycle of faecal-oral contamination. More details 👉 https://lnkd.in/e6nxH5jg This project aims to address the diseases related to water, hygiene and sanitation that are prevalent in communities affected by the protracted conflict in the country and high rates of mortality and morbidity. Supported by UK aid (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) #CentralAfricanRepublic #community #sanitation #hygiene #diseases #diseaseprevention #wash #diarrhoealdiseases #clts #conflict #humanitarian #SouthSudan

A programme to improve access to health and nutrition in Cabo Delgado Province is addressing severe malnutrition in children under 5 years who are living in a region impacted by conflict and disrupted healthcare. Supported by UNICEF Moçambique, the programme involves training and supervising community health workers during the screening and treatment of children with severe acute malnutrition. MENTOR trained eight community health workers to implement the programme and strengthen the capacity and quality of their work through on-the-job supervision. This helps integrate activities into the health system, particularly when referring cases with serious complications to health units. We also trained 80 volunteers who support the community health workers and organise information, education and communication sessions for mothers on healthy child feeding practices and cooking demonstrations. Herondino Ferreira, MENTOR's Nutrition Officer, is in the Chiure District and reports on the difference it is making for children: "Isabel, 19 months, lives in the community of Chimoio. Through the Integrated Nutrition Package programme, she was diagnosed with Severe Acute Malnutrition and admitted to the Community Malnutrition Treatment programme at the end of December. She was prescribed Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food and monitored for five months, after which she was discharged due to an improvement in her nutritional status. These results show that the health and nutrition project in Cabo Delgado is helping to improve the quality of life for young children." Caption: Pictures from the project in communities in Cabo Delgado Province. #Mozambique #malnutrition #humanitarian #nutrition #healthcare #communityhealthworkers #conflict

👏 We are proud to partner with The END Fund who are leading the way in NTD elimination. With their support MENTOR is helping to address the burden of neglected tropical diseases in Angola and South Sudan. Since 2012 a unique partnership between MENTOR and The END Fund has provided key technical and operational support to scale up mass drug administrations against schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminth infections, lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis across several provinces of Angola. This partnership enabled the mapping of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth infections for the first time in the country, and subsequent impact assessment alongside the delivery of more than 35 million treatments. (Research article 👉 https://lnkd.in/e-V3QUuE) MENTOR and The END Fund have also partnered in South Sudan since 2017 to deliver treatments for lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis in the most remote areas of the country. This partnership has been providing essential support to the Ministry of Health in South Sudan to reach mobile populations in border areas. The results achieved led to a recent scale up of the work to additional states under Reaching the Last Mile Fund. (https://lnkd.in/e2SKAAkP) It is thanks to partnerships such as this that MENTOR has been supporting Ministry of Health’s to significantly scale up NTD control towards 2030 WHO targets, and remain committed to end NTDs in Angola, South Sudan and beyond. #SouthSudan #Angola #beatntds #ntds #massdrugadministrations #neglectedtropicaldiseases

A school in Caracas with 300 students now receives water every day instead of twice a week, after MENTOR installed a 2000L tank to supply water to the toilets and kitchen. Recycling and hygiene promotion activities were also carried out, as part of our larger community-based disease prevention programme in Venezuela. 🚰 #Venezuela #water #wash #sanitation #schools #diseaseprevention #recycling #hygiene

MENTOR Operational Research Manager Sara Estecha Querol recently spoke at the Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom (SRUK/CERU) Summer Talks about her journey from academia to working in the humanitarian sector. Titled "From ivory tower to the frontline: conducting research in conflict-affected areas", Sara shared her experience as part of MENTOR, including researching innovative new tools and qualitative research with community health workers. Sara said: “During my PhD studies on adolescent malnutrition in South Asia, it became clear that I didn’t want to work in academia and that words like ‘impact’ and ‘action’ started to resonate with the work I was doing. I felt my research could have a stronger impact in an NGO, so I transferred my skills and knowledge to this sector. “I now contribute to a cause I am passionate about, and know my research can influence policy, and advocate for changes that are addressing pressing social, environmental and economic issues in communities.” #research #humanitarian #diseases #diseasecontrol #communityhealthworkers

The MENTOR Initiative is supporting the humanitarian response in Gaza focussing on reducing the impact of communicable diseases, after carrying out an initial assessment earlier this year. We are providing critical assistance to three health facilities in central Gaza in collaboration with a local organisation. We are committed to improving healthcare services to help ensure affected communities receive the necessary medical support during this emergency. Over the coming months, we aim to support essential healthcare to reduce the burden of highly endemic diseases such as diarrhoeal and skin diseases, which are increasing due to the destruction of infrastructure and reduced health facilities. The programme aims to reach 500,000 people and carry out around 115,200 consultations. Caption: MENTOR team member in Borno State, Nigeria #Gaza #war #conflict #humanitarian #healthcare #healthfacilities #diseasecontrol

Health promotion and recycling activities in a school in Miranda State, northern Venezuela is helping to create a healthy environment for the children and protect them from diseases. The activities also included the rehabilitation of handwashing facilities for the 170 school children living in this mountainous area 45 minutes away from the nearest health facility. * Video contains sound 🎶 #venezuela #wash #water #hygiene #dengue #handwashing #school #publichealth #healthpromotion #diarrhoea #recycling

A mass drug administration campaign in South Sudan addressing the high rates of onchocerciasis (river blindness) and lymphatic filariasis recently begun, aiming to reach around 1.7 million people at risk of two of the most harmful neglected tropical diseases. This year’s campaign is expanding into five new counties, adding to the successful programme in seven counties that MENTOR supported in the last two years, and continues to support in some of South Sudan’s most inaccessible areas, including Jonglei State, Upper Nile State, Western Bahr el Ghazal State and Northern Bahr el Ghazal State. The programme is supported by The END Fund and delivered in close coordination with the South Sudan Ministry of Health. #southsudan #beatntds #onchocerciasis #lymphaticfilariasis #ntds #diseasecontrol

A meeting to review the past three years of the USAID - Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance-funded programme in Cabo Delgado took place last week, attended by provincial and district health authorities, international partners such as UNICEF and WHO, and the MENTOR Mozambique team. The event was an opportunity to discuss the outcomes, learnings and make future recommendations for primary healthcare and large-scale disease prevention in Cabo Delgado Province. The programme focused primarily on controlling vector-borne diseases, hygiene promotion, and emergency interventions in communities displaced by ongoing conflict in the region. Key milestones achieved in the past three years: -       Indoor residual spraying campaigns helped protect more than 1.3 million people over two years, with results showing a decline in malaria cases in targeted areas. -       Health and hygiene education campaigns reached over 1.5 million people including 700,000 displaced people. -       The training and supervision of community health workers strengthened their capacity to deliver essential health services and reach isolated communities that lack access to healthcare. Community health workers conducted over 1.2 million consultations with BHA support, to diagnose and treat the most prevalent diseases in northern Mozambique. At the community level, 401,209 malaria cases were diagnosed and treated, showing how this support ensures life-saving treatment and reduces the burden on health facilities. “All the partners addressing this health emergency in Cabo Delgado have worked exceptionally hard to protect people most at risk of disease and suffering. But with the number of displaced people rising, increased violence and the pervasive threat of infectious diseases, it is critical to continue this work to prevent an escalating crisis.” – David Prieto, Country Director. #publichealth #cabodelgado #mozambique #healthcare #diseasecontrol #malaria #communityhealthworkers

Almost 12 years ago MENTOR responded to the soaring rates of malaria in camps in South Sudan sheltering refugees from the Blue Nile State, Sudan, and have supported the control of infectious diseases here ever since. In these fragile camp settings, outbreaks of disease threaten to overwhelm the health services struggling to meet the needs of people living here. Around 30,000 refugees fleeing the current war in Sudan have now been relocated to these camps in Maban and Jamjang and face the same challenging living conditions and risk of diseases and suffering. MENTOR, supported by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), is continuing to respond to this health emergency by preventing and controlling infectious diseases like malaria, helping to protect 280,000 refugees living in this flood-prone region of South Sudan. MENTOR is further supporting the crisis by working with MSF to distribute mosquito nets to Sudanese refugees newly arriving in Renk, on the border of the two countries. 🎥 Watch the PBS documentary from 2019 that details the reality of refugees living in camps in Maban: https://lnkd.in/eWWHvxnf #worldrefugeeday #refugees #sudan #southsudan #malaria #infectiousdiseases #vectorcontrol #diseasecontrol #flycontrol #humanitarian #emergency