Fighting prevalent diseases across Africa
AMREF is stopping people dying of easily preventable and treatable diseases such as HIV,TB, malaria, and diarrhea, by educating communities about prevention and bringing good quality and affordable treatment closer to people’s homes. The need is urgent.
- Sub-Saharan Africa is home to more than two thirds (68%) of the global population living with HIV (22.5 million), but only a little over 10% of its population has access to anti-retroviral drugs
- Dangerous drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis have now emerged
- Malaria is the biggest killer of African children
- Diarrhea claims the lives of 5,000 children every day
- A woman in Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy of childbirth, compared to a 1 in 4,000 risk in a developing country
AMREF is tackling the deadliest diseases in Africa, but not in isolation. We are strengthening health systems to be more effective in dealing with all areas of health care and services. AMREF is:
- Preventing new infections of HIV and minimizing its impact on people already infected
- Raising awareness of tuberculosis and educating about prevention and diagnosis
- Educating people about the causes of malaria, its signs, and symptoms
- Improving maternal health
- Improving access to safe water and sanitation to prevent water-borne diseases
