Read our Programmatic Summary for 2022-2023 here, which provides a snapshot of our work that has direct implications for both human health biodiversity conservation in one of the most challenging and complex environments on the planet: the Lake Tanganyika Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
We highlight the critical intersection of health, environment, and community in a region burdened with high malaria incidence and a complex socio-political landscape, and we describe the innovative approaches and multi-sectoral collaborations that we take to understand and improve the lives of lakeshore communities. We have made great strides in gathering multi-sectoral indicators to understand health, livelihoods, and security. This holistic data collection approach is instrumental in creating the foundational knowledge we need to accomplish our medium-term goal, which is to craft effective, community-tailored solutions for malaria control that are context appropriate.
You can also learn about the challenges we continually face while carrying out this vital work, how we overcome them, and the progress we have made toward improving the lives of some of the poorest populations in the world, and our vision for how we can significantly reduce malaria in this region.
Our team is in the field now, continuing this necessary work. Please consider a donation to support our work!
responsible for the Burundian refugee population in Lusenda camp (now overflowing beyond capacity at 20,000 people), uses their LTFHC-supplied radio to speak regularly with the Nundu Reference Hospital. This allows for much smoother management of the center, ensures the reference hospital is adequately prepared for incoming refugee patients, and provides up to date information to other partners managing the refugee crisis.
We are now preparing to pilot a tablet-based EMR application in ten health centers in Tanganyika Province, DRC early next year. At the request of the Tanganyika MOH, this exciting next iteration of the program focuses on prenatal data collection. We are, however, designing the software to accommodate other activities and indicators at the health center level in the future, such as delivery services, childhood illnesses, and malaria diagnostics and treatment. While there are many “m-health” applications in the global healthcare space, few are designed and built in partnership with exactly the people the technology is intended to serve. Our tablet app is thus a powerful example of what differentiates us in our approach.
Building upon our previous research (
As one of the few organizations with a consistent presence in the Lake Tanganyika Basin, we have delivered on the ground feedback for governmental and multi-lateral stakeholders during this tumultuous time. Through our local office in Kigoma, Tanzania, we have also provided housing and transport for other organizations actively working with Burundian refugees. We continue to work closely with authorities monitoring the situation in Burundi— please contact us if you would like to receive more information.