Project Ahoto

Vital Stats

Cambridge, MA

  • people helped5000
  • People Doing It 20

The Problem

The slums surrounding Cape Coast, Ghana, face a severe health problem: Malaria is rampant in these areas, crippling community life by killing little children and putting productive adults out of work. My organization, the Ahoto Partnership for Ghana, and I aim to fight this problem head on, community by community, by creating awareness, distributing mosquito nets, and registering the most vulnerable community members (young children and pregnant women) for Ghana's government-run, but difficult to initially afford, health insurance plan. Our project has already met with success in three communities: Akotokyir, Wiomuah and Efutu, where they have had an impact on the lives of around 5000 people, at a cost of only $5000 ($500 of which came from a DoSomething.org grant). We now hope to expand Project Ahoto to more neighboring communities.

Plan of Action

Our anti-Malaria initiative is unique in its comprehensiveness, and has now even been successfully implemented in several communities : (1) We survey a community to find their Malaria incidence, level of Malaria awareness, and mosquito net usage rates; (2)We distribute free mosquito nets, focusing on families with young children and/or pregnant women; (3) We pair our distribution with a vigorous Malaria awareness campaign organized with local health officials; (4) We sign up pregnant women, and young children and their mothers for Ghana's government-run (but often unaffordable) health insurance scheme; (5) We join hands with local schoolteachers to promote Malaria awareness in primary schools, using a guide designed with the help of CDC officials; and (6) We survey the community again, six months later. As President of Ahoto, my role is to oversee the entire process, and coordinate with our many collaborators to ensure Project Ahoto's success.

Project Updates

We have successfully implemented our project in three communities: Akotokyir, Wiomuah and Efutu, and we are now expanding our project to encompass more communities, affecting more lives for the better with Project Ahoto's simple, cost-efficient plan.

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