Africa Regional Members

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Association des Volontaires aux Personnes Vulnérables et aux Enfants Orphelins (AVPVEO) (South Kivu, DRC) 

 

The Association of Volunteers for Vulnerable People and Orphaned Children is a non-governmental civil society organisation operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, primarily in the east and south of the country. They work across several domains, with a particular emphasis on health, and this includes combating meningitis, since elevated risks have been observed during their awareness-raising and case identification work among local populations. This work continues to be carried out each month, in villages and city districts, by AVPVEO’s (mostly female) project implementation officers, and includes close surveillance, description, documentation, and follow-up of cases of meningitis, sexual violence, or other human rights violations, as well as psychosocial care for those who have experienced these. AVPVEO aims to introduce effective measures in support of their mission to see meningitis defeated by 2030, in Africa and across the world.

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Given that meningitis remains a serious problem in the DRC, as in many other countries, AVPVEO aims to introduce lasting measures against the disease: sustainable prevention (supported by ongoing vaccination drives) and awareness-raising campaigns around the symptoms of meningitis as well as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. AVPVEO also organises meetings to discuss complications encountered by patients on the ground, and training sessions for community health workers, doctors and nurses to support them in patient care.

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To see photographs of their work, visit their Facebook page. You can also email them for more information.

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Bountiful Missions Uganda

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Bountiful Missions Uganda works with hard-to-reach populations in eastern Uganda through unlocking boundaries that can better their wellbeing. As CoMO partners, they aim to raise awareness of meningitis and contribute to a future where no-one in the area loses their life to meningitis and everyone affected gets the support they need to rebuild their lives. Their founder, Waiswa Rogers, is the main contact point.

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Care and Development Centre (CADEC) (Nigeria)
 

Care and Development Centre (CADEC), a Nigerian Non-Governmental Organisation, was set up in 2011. Their mission is to be a prominent Non-Governmental Organisation that empowers vulnerable people through their participatory approach.
 

CADEC focuses on programs that are geared towards wealth creation, social justice, sexualities and health education. Through education and participatory approaches, their initiatives aim to create and enhance sustainable environments, livelihood, self-esteem, economic empowerment, community development, and good governance.

 

In the area of health education, CADEC takes a participatory approach and works in the community to educate its members on preventive health issues. In line with this, CADEC is actively promoting the uptake of vaccines and immunization services in the Nigerian community.

For more information, call Rhoda Omoile on +23408094826044 or email CADEC. Visit their Facebook Page. 

 

 

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Caritas Nigeria (Nigeria)
 

Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria (Caritas Nigeria) was established in 2010 as a development agency of the Catholic Church in Nigeria. With focus on six key thematic areas namely: Health, Agriculture, Education, Good governance, Environment/Emergency Response and Institutional Capacity-strengthening and Anti-Human Trafficking/Forced Migration. Their mission is to stimulate and drive development into every segment of the ever-complex and rapidly growing Nigerian society.
 

Caritas Nigeria's health portfolio is robust and covers broadly communicable and non-communicable diseases including malaria, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and meningitis. Caritas Nigeria has within the last six years implemented several community-based development interventions (across the different program areas of healthcare), impacting millions of lives and families.  They are currently in partnership with 1376 faith-based health facilities and 375 schools scattered spread across very hard-to-reach and under-served communities in the country.

During the outbreak of the meningitis in Nigeria at the start of 2017 which claimed over 800 lives, Caritas Nigeria launched a very effective campaign against meningitis where over 3000 persons across the country were immunized. This was combined with massive public awareness and advocacy on meningitis targeting various predisposed communities (churches, market places, villages etc.). The machinery for this has been adopted and incorporated into the organizations programming.
 

For more information, please visit the Caritas website or email.

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Children Advocacy Forum Sierra Leone (CAFSL) (Sierra Leone)

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CAFSL is a child and youth centred organisation that works to protect the welfare of children, women and young people with regards to their survival and participation in society.
They promote:
- RMNCAH (Nutrition,  Immunization and Family Planning)
- Child Protection
- Education
- Youth Empowerment

CAF-SL is a steering committee member of the following networks: Scaling up Nutrition and Immunization Civil Society Platform (SUNI-CSP) and RMNCAH +N.

 

For more information, contact them via email or visit their Facebook.

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Concern Health Education Project (Ghana)
 

Concern Health Education Project (CHEP) is a legally registered Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Ghana with the objective of promoting and educating the youth population in the area of health advocacy through volunteer-related programs. The NGO also engages in human rights advocacy, environmental rights, and climate change issues through participatory youth/child action approaches and information learning to provide cutting-edge problem solving.

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CHEP is established as a regionalized civil society voice with the aim to advance advocacy for the health of community members. We emphasize the importance of dialogue between health workers, health political actors, community, and other interest groups in enhancing wellbeing. Additionally, we promote Universal Health Coverage and advocate for health rights, namely in the arenas of noncommunicable diseases, immunizations, TB, Malaria, and HIV and AIDS. Overall, the basic premise is that healthcare requires people and systems to be connected and responsive to local needs and resources. 

 

CHEP has led programs in Ghana working on cardiovascular preventions and noncommunicable diseases. We also work in immunizations of children under 5, HIV and AIDS, malaria, meningitis, and TB prevention within the health system to promote integrated health for children and to improve the quality of life for the people of Ghana. 

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For more information, call +233 24 304 4732, email the project, or visit the Concern Health Education Project website. 

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Gambo General Rural Hospital (Ethiopia)

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Gambo Hospital is located in a rural area in southern Ethiopia where infant mortality is high and where basic food needs are not covered, so there is a high rate of malnutrition and infectious diseases like meningitis, measles, pneumonia, sepsis.

Gambo General Rural Hospital provides curative and preventive health care services to the community and is committed to improve access and quality of care. 

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The number of patients in hospital and outpatient services is growing and the hospital's diagnostic capacity has improved accordingly over the past five years.

 

Gambo Hospital provides health care services to a referral population of more than 450,000 people.

 

They are committed to fight against meningitis in different ways: community awareness, health education, prevention, vaccination, early detection, health professionals training, antibiotics, and medical equipment.

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For more information, contact them or visit the Gambo Hospital website, Facebook page or Twitter profile. 

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Helping Hands 4 Africa (Uganda)

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Helping hands 4 Africa is a Community Based Initiative that started way back in 2011 with the plight of transforming the disadvantaged livelihoods in eastern Uganda to live a better life. They are situated in Jinja district, which lies 80kms East of Kampala city, Uganda's capital working with the rural poor communities in our country.

 

Uganda as a developing country is among other problems, afflicted by Civil wars, hunger, economic stagnation, extreme poverty, low literacy levels, and the AIDS pandemic that continues its deadly foray into every village. This calls for innovative actions that are designed and implemented to bring about change. Helping hands 4 Africa is actively pursuing this at the grass roots. As development partners, non-governmental organizations are proving to be more effective at grass roots where government hands cannot reach.

 

Helping hands 4 Africa is one of the few grass roots organizations based in the Eastern Uganda offering educational, medical and nutritional services to the rural communities as well as helping to facilitate their social, spiritual, Educational and economic wellbeing. They derive our support from the valuable services of volunteers, friends, sympathizers, well-wishers, Christian and non-Christian resources as well as our dear partners in-country and abroad who offer financial, moral, educational and material support to facilitate our activities.

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Kamala Community Health Development Initiatives (Nigeria)

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Kamala Community Health Development Initiative have supported meningitis case studies, facilitated transportation of infected individuals for treatment, advocated for government to vaccinate contacts and help to raise meningitis prevention awareness.

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For more information, email them. 

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Light Up Hope Uganda (Jinja, Uganda)

 

Light Up Hope Uganda was initiated with the commitment and plight of transforming the most vulnerable livelihoods and communities to live a better life through mitigating the root causes of their vulnerabilities culturally, spiritually, economically and socially. They are a humanitarian voluntary based initiative currently without any reliable source of funding or donor agency other than support from their own pockets, friends, sympathisers, local and international volunteers in terms of skills, advocacy, fundraising, etc when implementing their activities. 

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For more information, visit their Facebook page.
 

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Medicure Trauma Centre - Nabumali (Mbale District, Uganda)

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Medicure Trauma Centre - Nabumali, with pharmacy and laboratories, is a legally registered health facility operating in Uganda since 2012. It is registered under the Ministry Of Health in Uganda and all services provided at the facility are supervised by the Uganda Nurses & Midwifery Council (UNMC), a regulatory body for health services for both private and Government Health workers. Their major aim is to overcome meningitis (and septicaemia) though prevention, early detection, early treatment, and management of meningitis complications, along with participating in research regarding those topics. They actively demonstrate their ability to provide advanced trauma life support (ATLS) prior to transfer of patients to a higher-level trauma center. They also provide evaluation, stabilization, and diagnostic capabilities for injured patients including:
 

• Basic emergency department facilities to implement ATLS protocols and 24-hour laboratory coverage. With Available trauma nurse(s) and physicians available upon patient arrival.

• Surgery and critical-care services (orthopedic).

• They have developed transfer agreements for patients requiring more comprehensive care at a Level I or Level II Trauma Center.

• They have incorporated a comprehensive quality assessment programme. 

• They are involved with prevention efforts and have an active outreach programme for their referring communities

Other services include general medical, paediatrics, laboratory and dental services.

Contact via phone: +256752044760  or via email: medicuretraumacentre@outlook.com.

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Meningitis Association of South Africa (Cape Town, South Africa)
 

The Meningitis Association of South Africa was established to raise awareness of meningitis and other infections of the central nervous system throughout South Africa.

The association uses education systems and research to provide support and education to patients and families, increase awareness of meningitis, promote more information to healthcare professionals, and to raise funds to improve diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of meningitis. Visit the Meningitis Association of South Africa's Facebook page for more information about this member organisation.

  

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Meningitis Awareness Foundation (Kenya)

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Our vision is to see Kenya free from meningitis and septicaemia.

Meningitis Awareness Foundation (MAF) is a non-profit establishment registered in Kenya in 2018. We are the first meningitis foundation in Kenya dedicated to fighting meningitis in East Africa. MAF aims to raise awareness and sensitize society about the signs and symptoms of meningitis and offer support services to those affected. In future, our trained field staff will assess where the charity will be most beneficial in providing support.

For more information, email mifkenya@gmail.com or call +254 726062750.​

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Meningitis Research Group of Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS) (Ivory Coast)

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Our team work on different aspects pertinent to the fight against meningitis including, primarily, research on the development of new diagnostic tools, improvement of surveillance and better understanding of factors affecting the epidemiology of the disease. We also develop communication tools to inform and raise awareness of the disease in the community, and organise school engagements where we give information about the disease and prevention measures. Finally, we want to provide support to survivors by identifying their needs and putting them in contact with the right specialists.

 

You can find out more about the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire on their website, or about their Meningitis Research Group on their website.

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Mustard Vision For Sustainable Development (MUVSUD) (Cameroon)
 

Mustard Vision For Sustainable Development is a non-political and non-profit organisation working towards the development of Cameroon society in key areas including agriculture, education, health, gender and environment, to name a few. They are focused and determined to do the maximum amount possible within their capacity and resources to raise local and international awareness by adopting strategies to deal with the aforementioned areas, of which meningitis is included. With meningitis being one of MUVSUD's focus areas, they are striving to achieve their vision of a future where no one in Cameroon loses their life to meningitis and everyone affected gets the support they need to rebuild their lives. For more information, email Elangwe Samuel or call +237677876040.

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Muslim Aid Initiative (Nigeria)
 

Muslim Aid Initiative Nigeria (MAIN) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with Certificate of Registration no CAC/IT/NO 22158. MAIN is governed by a Board of Trustees (BOT), Governing Council (GC) and Management team which lead direction on strategic focus, policies and oversees general organizational performance.  The Secretariat is headed by Executive Director and supported by the management team.

Our mission: to improve quality of life among the community through innovative, integrated social services 
Our vision: a society free of diseases and poverty.
 

For more information, visit their: Facebook.

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Parents of Disabled Children Association of Malawi (PODCAM) (Malawi)
 

PODCAM is a non-profit organisation that has over 16,200 members across Malawi. PODCAM seeks to assist children with disabilities, irrespective of age, to maximise their potential as individuals and determine every aspect of their lives. This is achieved through empowering the parents of children with disabilities, conducting civic education, and mitigating the impact of abuse among children with disabilities.

The goal of the organisation is to create a society that will promote the rights, survival, protection, and development of the children with various disabilities. PODCAM is also educating the Malawian community on the causes, symptoms and treatments associated with meningitis.
 

For more information, visit their Facebook page.

 

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Roadmap for Women and Youth Development (RAWYOD) (Nigeria)
 

Roadmap for Women and Youth Development (RAWYOD) is a youth-led independent development and humanitarian non-profit organisation that aims to protect women, youth and children’s rights. It is an organisation established to motivate, organise and unite people with an interest in the community development agenda, focusing on Protection, Environment, Education, Health and Peace-Building. We work to establish a platform where everyone, including women, has voice to facilitate the improvement of basic livelihood for all, while creating a safe environment for peaceful coexisting through community activities such as peace-building mechanisms for the prevention of violence and conflict in Northeast Nigeria and beyond. We believe in the power and potentials of every woman, youth and child, but currently, this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination of different kinds.

 

For more information about RAWYOD, visit their website or LinkedIn page.

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Step Up Charity (Uganda) 

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Step Up Charity empowers communities to live better and have sustainable livelihoods through meeting their health needs. You can get in touch with Mwebe Fred, the Director of the charity, at: stepupcharityuganda@gmail.com.

 

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United Youths
 

United Youths is an NGO created by a group of young people who aim to promote civic harmony and to spread values of peace and respect for humanity. United Youths promote education schemes, volunteering and environmental conservation projects. United Youths use training programmes which aim to improve literacy in society and inform members of the community about how institutions such as local health care services and grassroots organisations can improve life for everybody. Being a member of CoMO will allow United Youths to inform people living in Guinea of the dangers of meningitis. For more information, call +224622378770 or email United Youths.

 

 

Ummah Support Initiative (USI) (Nigeria)

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Ummah Support Initiative (USI) is a faith-based Organization  established since July 2006 and registered with government of Nigeria, through the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Our vision is to provide access to health and education to under privileged population and with a Mission to work towards a health and developed communities in Nigeria. Our strategies is to work with government, donors and international organizations, religious and traditional  leaders  to halt disease and illiteracy in our communities  advocacy, sensitization, mobilization and implementation of projects that's are impactful. We work with our communities to bring desired change, USI values are transparency and accountability.

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Visit USI's website here.

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Village Concern Uganda (Uganda)

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Village Concern Uganda fights this abject poverty and helps prevent violence through community-based development in Eastern Uganda. We believe that solutions to poverty are best realized when those affected by it drive change. Outsiders can help by mobilizing people, advising, networking, and providing resources. Ultimately, however, the community has the knowledge and the motivation necessary to solve problems.

Through sports programs, young women's empowerment, and community development. Village Concern Uganda promotes youth leadership and ethnic and gender cooperation. We also work to improve basic healthcare, sanitation, and education. VCU saves lives, prevents ethnic and religious violence, and creates opportunities in a place that outsiders often cast away as hopeless.

Serving as a model for holistic, community-based urban development in eastern Uganda, VCU has helped grassroots initiatives develop youth-based programs in six other nations and dozens of communities in eastern Uganda. We envision a community where the poor have a voice in their futures and opportunities for healthy growth.

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For more information, visit their website here.

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Women Advocates for Vaccine Access (Nigeria)
 

Women Advocates for Vaccine Access (WAVA), is a coalition of women-focused Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Nigeria advocating for increased health access, improved routine immunization uptake and sustainable primary healthcare financing in Nigeria. WAVA is a registered entity with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of Nigeria. As at April 2017, there were 47 member organizations in 19 states, spread across all 6 geopolitical zones in the country. Together, WAVA members and WAVA Champions envision a world where individuals, irrespective of their gender, creed, value or physical attributes have unhindered access to vaccination to improve their well-being and advance the collective good. 
 

With a rich network of collaborators and a national profile, WAVA’s strategic approach is three pronged:  first we mobilize additional voices as vaccine advocates; second, we to train, network and coordinate Champions and organisations to be effective advocates; third we provide advocates with, or link them to resources they need to be successful - such as, evidence, technical support and small grants.

Following the recent outbreak of Meningitis C in Nigeria, which has claimed over 1000 lives as at May 12, 2017, WAVA stepped into the forefront of information dissemination. We released a press statement calling for funding and increased uptake of the Meningitis C vaccine. Acknowledged by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), the press statement also commended the quick response and synergy among the various government agencies and partners in managing the cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) outbreak.
 

WAVA remains committed to building and strengthening partnerships across Nigeria, Africa and beyond, to promote evidence-based interventions that reduce vaccine preventable diseases like meningitis

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For more information on WAVA, visit their website  or send an email.