World Centric + Integrate Health / 8 minute read
The World Bank projects that over the next three decades, the annual temperature in Togo, West Africa will rise by 1.5 to 3.1 degrees celsius. This change will have lasting effects on the livelihood and wellbeing of people throughout the country.
Nonprofit Partner: Integrate Health
photo: The Kara River in the Kara Region of Togo, West Africa
Togo, and other low-income countries with weak health infrastructure, will be the least able to cope with the health effects of climate change. Increases in record hot days and erratic rain patterns will jeopardize livelihoods and access to food. Hot temperatures can lead to an increased risk of dehydration, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and greater spread of water-borne diseases including cholera.
Integrate Health is providing care throughout Togo that's increasingly critical as climate change accelerates. Working to deliver the highest quality primary healthcare services to women and children in Togo, Integrate Health trains and employs 200+ Community Health Workers (CHW's), who are mostly women and provide home-based care.
Integrate Health is providing care throughout Togo that's increasingly critical as climate change accelerates. Working to deliver the highest quality primary healthcare services to women and children in Togo, Integrate Health trains and employs 200+ Community Health Workers (CHW's), who are mostly women and provide home-based care.
Meet Rebecca, a Community Health Worker
Rebecca was a housewife in Togo, West Africa who lived with her in-laws and newborn son. She became a CHW with Integrate Health to help support her family. As part of the benefits of her job, Rebecca earns a full-time wage and her training is helping to reduce the high rate of mortality in her community. She works as part of Integrate’s clinical staff, under a supervisor and head nurse.
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9 months into becoming a CHW, Rebecca became the go-to person in her community that mother’s would turn to with sick children. She is now able to provide care to children including her own, advise other women on how to take good care of their children, and how health practices can help them to avoid mild illnesses. Her salary also allows her to contribute financially to her household. She is able to pay for basic needs for herself and her baby. She has become a respected and appreciated member in the community who does not hesitate to provide advice and care to her patients.
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“When I think about my past, I am sometimes surprised by all that happened to me and I am very grateful to the organization. Thanks to Integrate Health, I am now able to set goals for myself. I think of projects for my future and mainly I work hard every single day to achieve these things I am working for."
-Rebecca KERE
