WHAT IF YOU COULD HELP EXTEND LIFE FOR 25 MILLION PEOPLE?
The average life expectancy in Côte d’Ivoire is 61 years for females and 58 years for males. Compare that to the average American life expectancy of 81 for women and 76 for men: approximately 20 fewer years for people who live in Côte d’Ivoire.
Tragically, the mortality rate for children under the age of five in Cote d’Ivoire is one of the highest in the world, especially in rural areas of the country.
The good news is communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases can be eradicated with a robust and conscientious healthcare reformation.
The Ministry of Health in Côte d’Ivoire has made great strides in healthcare but needs help to keep moving forward. AfriMed Network is about a helping hand and providing care to those who cannot afford basic medical services.
“When you have your health, you have everything. When you do not have your health, nothing else matters at all.” ― Augusten Burroughs
What would you give for another 20 years of life?
OUR VISION
Our vision is for a planet where communicable and preventable diseases are eradicated so the people of the world can live healthy, productive, and longer lives.
OUR MISSION
AfriMed Network’s mission is to reduce the health challenges to the people of Côte d’Ivoire who suffer from a disease, degradation, and eventually early death.
We aim to bring affordable healthcare to Côte d’Ivoire, improving the quality of life while eradicating diseases that can cross borders into Europe and North America.
By reducing wide-spread health threats, AfriMed Network will be establishing a successful model of healthcare support in Côte d’Ivoire as well as a model to assist West Africa for the future and benefit the world.
Our long-term goal is to set in motion a support system of health care services that will accelerate the general health of the Côte d’Ivoire population and further increases economic growth for the country, the West African region, as well as reduce the demands on Côte d’Ivoire for supplemental funding on a global level.
THE CORNERSTONES OF OUR WORK
HEALTHCARE
Healthcare for all is provided at little or no cost to the patient based on the individual’s ability to pay. We seek to help the Côte d’Ivoire government expedite the level of care to those citizens who are unable to afford medical attention or live in areas where adequate healthcare is too far away to access.
EDUCATION
Education is the foundation to improving health. By knowing what to do, and often not what to do, individuals, families, and communities can implement the necessary changes to alter, transform, and advance their healthcare regimes.
LEVERAGE
Leveraging the knowledge and skills of highly qualified and caring healthcare professionals to the remote regions of Côte d’Ivoire brings much-needed medical expertise to help establish and maintain healthy lifestyles and communities.
PARTNERSHIP
Partnerships and collaborations to reach populations unable to afford or access adequate healthcare is an ongoing effort. AfriMed Network is in partnership with the Côte d’Ivoire government to reform and expand their healthcare system into a robust and all-inclusive organization. We also collaborate with other NGOs serving West Africa to bring expertise in specific healthcare diseases.
DISEASES WE HELP TO IDENTIFY
The main mission of AfriMed Network is to provide basic healthcare to the people of Côte d’Ivoire who are unable to afford or access adequate healthcare. In the course of providing these services, we often encounter major health issues that need to be addressed by professionals specializing in specific healthcare concerns:
- Malaria
- Maternal and Newborn Nutrition & Health
- HIV/AIDS
- Tuberculosis
- Intestinal Diseases
- Lower Respiratory Infections
- Prevention of Diseases Such as Ebola Virus Disease
In partnership with the government, as well as other NGOs in West Africa, AfriMed Network alerts the appropriate organization so proper and prompt medical assistance can begin to address the specific medical problem.
BRINGING IT HOME
A Personal Message From Africa
As a child growing up in Cote d’Ivoire, contending with life-threatening diseases was a perpetual problem. I constantly struggled with malaria until I moved to the U.S. in my early twenties. It still remains today as an ongoing medical challenge throughout most of Africa.
HIV/AIDS was another threat to contend with. The ravage of HIV/AIDS hit close to home when one of my relatives was diagnosed with the disease. I also remember witnessing the heart- attack and sudden death of one of my community members in central Cote d’Ivoire. The community did not have an adequate healthcare system that could have detected and prevented this tragedy.
Frequent bacterial infections were very much part of daily life. I personally suffered from bacterial infections in my intestines which caused me constant digestive troubles until I moved to the United States and received a suitable cure from a doctor at a community health center in my first year in Boston, Massachusetts.
Health indicators such as cholesterol and blood pressure levels were very rarely part of life conversations in Cote d’Ivoire. While there has been some progress, there are still many remote communities and villages in Africa where healthcare coverage is still lacking.
Living in the United States now for close to 30 years has removed the fear of those threatening diseases from my life because of access to a quality healthcare system. While the story of my health care struggles has had a happy ending, there are still millions of people in Cote d’Ivoire and across Africa facing daily health threats. As one prominent medical doctor in Africa whom I recently spoke with put it, “Many poor and underserved communities, especially in remote villages, are struggling for lack of adequate healthcare coverage. The stubborn rate of malaria and HIV/AIDS infections, the lack of clean drinking water, and the threat of cholera are still serious dangers that affect life expectancy in Cote d’Ivoire.”
Global travel is here to stay, and that means the transmitting of medical challenges that were once eliminated in North America can return. If we are to prevent the reoccurrence and spread of contagious diseases and infections to North America and other countries outside of the African continent, we need to take action to attack the source of many of these medical threats, especially in Cote d’Ivoire.
The cry for a helping hand is still a reality in Cote d’Ivoire.
Ray Koffi
AfriMed Network Inc.
Chief Operations Officer – Africa