Telling the ECSA Story

  Asho at Yubbe MCH posing for a picture. Photo: Khadar Abdulahi Nur © CARE  Asho Mohamed Yusuf is one of the leaders of the Mother-to-Mother Support Groups at Yubbe Health facility in Yubbe village. The village has a population of more than 2,000 people, and the community relies on pastoral activities to make a living. As a mother of eight children, Asho’s day starts very early. She must complete household chores and care for her children before mobilizing mothers to attend the health facility. The first thing that Asho does as soon as she arrives at the health facility is plan the day ahead, whilst keeping in mind that she must engage the women to make the right choices regarding breastfeeding. “Changing people's minds results in people changing their behavior. This is something difficult but possible, as I was adequately trained on how to do it,” says Asho with confidence.  Asho and her team were coached by CARE with support from USAID on topi...

  Young Women engaged in sexual and reproductive health. CARE International/Gift Katuta A recent baseline report , under the SHE SOARS program in the Eastern Province of Zambia, indicates that two in a small of five adolescent girls and young women were already mothers. With the greatest need for sexual and reproductive health services, the Out-Of-School Adolescent mothers  either have little access to sexual and reproductive services or are excluded from traditional adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) programming.  In the Chadiza District, Maryner Lungu had a dream of positively impacting her peers through a community group. The 19-year-old said, “My journey as a youth researcher started in 2021 as a dream which I shared with a few friends. I remember telling my friends how much I wanted to be part of a group that could create an environment for me to inspire and influence young people in the community. A few of my friends discouraged me as the dr...

Zainab collecting twigs to build a temporary shack. David Mutua/CARE At the edge of Dagahaley Refugee Camp located in Northeastern Kenya, 24-year-old Zainab Isak is busy building her temporary shack by tying together twigs with pieces of cloth and poles stuck to the ground. Dagahaley is already at full capacity, so all those arriving have to set up their structures outside the camp. Since she arrived from her home in Saakow Somalia, Zainab has been living in other people's structures. Her husband died in June 2022 due to sickness in Baidoa, leaving Zainab to become the breadwinner of her family comprised of her three children, her mother, and her father. As the conditions worsened, Zainab had no option but to leave her home “As a farmer, the lack of rain and drought made life unbearable. There was nothing to eat and all we had was finished. That is why we came here,” Zainab said. As she continues to build, Zainab does not know where her next meal will come from, because she still d...

Dr Mike, Rebecca and her Son during a routine Checkup at Pariang Hospital. South Sudan has one of the weakest health systems globally, especially in terms of access to sexual and reproductive health services. Maternal and neonatal health services remain a challenge for many women, with around 70% of the population living at least five kilometers from health facilities. The country has the highest maternal mortality rates of 789 per 100,000 live births, and neonatal and under-five mortality rates of 39.3 and 99.2, per 1000 live births respectively . When 37-year-old Rebecca Nyayuol arrived at Pariang hospital in February 2021 she was filled with anxiety. She was three months pregnant, and although she looked healthy, Rebecca had already gone through the traumatic experience of miscarriage not once, but five times. “ Before coming to Pariang Hospital, I had lost five pregnancies at five months. During my fifth pregnancy, I used to feel pain in the back before losing the baby. I fel...

Marial and his with the CARE Medical Team 58-year-old Luba Marial was brought to Pariang hospital, in northern South Sudan sweating and with a fever, by family members after suffering years of pain, without apparent diagnosis. Little did he know at the time that he was in a life-or-death situation.   “It started 3 years ago as pain in the kidney.” he says, “I visited the hospital several times, but I didn’t get a cure. I was refereed from Hakima health Centre to Pariang with severe pain, I couldn’t eat nor drink, life was hard for me.”   Upon admission in Pariang referral hospital, Marial was found to have a severe tissue infection with intestinal obstruction that required urgent surgery. Marial’s condition is a rare but severe type of bacterial infection which can destroy the muscles, skin and underlying tissue and is very difficult to treat. It is a highly fatal condition with mortality rates of 30% and above. Most Patients present with septic shock and septicemia...