Togo’s population of 6 million has an average of four doctors for every 100,000 people. The health system is not capable of meeting the basic health care needs of everyone as it is now. The infant mortality rate is 78 deaths per every 1,000 live births, the maternal mortality rate is 570 for every 100,000 live births and fewer than half of all births are assisted by a skilled attendant.
In the rural villages of Glei where we are working, BCB intends to address these issues by collaborating with the local clinic in Glei. We will collect baseline data on disease burden and outcomes, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the current health system.
Once identified, we will then train a health community workforce in measures of sanitation and hygiene, basic diagnostic techniques and referral procedures in order to avoid preventable deaths. We intend to build health outposts to provide better access to basic health services for the entire village network.