{"id":113838,"date":"2025-05-26T10:24:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T08:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/?p=113838"},"modified":"2025-05-26T10:24:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T08:24:47","slug":"fighting-tuberculosis-in-sierra-leone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/project-reports\/fighting-tuberculosis-in-sierra-leone\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting tuberculosis in Sierra Leone"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][uncode_block id=”101087″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ gutter_size=”3″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ uncode_shortcode_id=”656977″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”216801″]Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world – and often remains unnoticed. A child dies of TB every three minutes, usually due to late diagnosis or inadequate treatment. In 2023, 10.6 million people were infected worldwide, at least 1.5 million of them children. Almost 1.3 million people died – more than from malaria, typhoid and war combined. (Sources: WHO, Global Tuberculosis Report 2023, Stop TB Partnership)[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”196253″]<\/p>\n

What is tuberculosis?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs, but can also affect other organs such as the brain, belly and joints – especially in children. Malnourished children are often more severely affected. Without treatment, TB can be deadly, but it can be cured with early diagnosis and prolonged but effective antibiotic treatment.<\/p>\n

Diagnosis: The biggest obstacle<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Timely and accurate diagnosis is crucial. The symptoms – such as weight loss, persistent cough or weakness – are often unspecific and are initially attributed to other diseases. In our facilities, we focus on targeted diagnostics, public education and training for medical staff in order to recognise tuberculosis at an early stage and treat it successfully.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”154761″]<\/p>\n

Treatment and support: Our patients<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Here are three examples from our paediatric hospital in Freetown that show how timely medical care can save lives:<\/p>\n

Lamins Story<\/strong><\/h5>\n

When Lamin, three years old, came to our clinic, he was severely malnourished. The diagnosis: tuberculosis – and also a large cyst in his stomach. After a successful operation and consistent TB treatment, his condition improved rapidly: Lamin regained a healthy weight within two months and was able to return to his family in good health.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”113844″ media_width_use_pixel=”yes” alignment=”center” uncode_shortcode_id=”763808″ media_width_pixel=”420″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”136505″]<\/p>\n

Hawanatu and Ishmatus Stories<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Hawanatu and Ishmatu arrived at our centre on the same day – without knowing each other beforehand, but in a very similar condition: both severely malnourished and seriously ill. Hawanatu weighed just four kilograms at one year old, while Ishmatu weighed only 5.8 kilograms at 16 months. Both girls suffered from a severe bronchial infection, which was exacerbated by their poor nutritional status.<\/p>\n

The initial examinations soon confirmed the suspicion: tuberculosis. We were able to start treatment for Hawanatu immediately. With Ishmatu, the path proved to be somewhat more difficult: we found out that she had already been treated for TB. She was also diagnosed with an HIV infection, which greatly increases the risk of contracting tuberculosis.<\/p>\n

But the two fighters did not give up. They made significant progress after just a few weeks. Hawanatu really flourished – she no longer moved away from any of our team members. The two girls shared a bed for the entire time due to the high volume of patients and they still come to their check-up appointments together today.<\/p>\n

Hawanatu and Ishmatu have now been back home for three weeks. There were setbacks at first, but both are now doing really well again. They are literally eating the hair off their mums’ heads, gaining strength and weight – step by step back to life.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”113850″ media_width_use_pixel=”yes” alignment=”center” uncode_shortcode_id=”575526″ media_width_pixel=”420″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”197810″]<\/p>\n

Lahais Story<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Lahai and his family had to travel a long way from a remote region to reach us. When he arrived, his belly was massively enlarged due to fluid accumulation – we punctured a total of six litres of abdominal fluid. Despite these complaints, Lahai had lost a lot of weight. It was only the targeted tuberculosis therapy that changed the situation: Within a short time, his condition stabilised and we were able to release him home healthy and together with his overjoyed family.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”113863″ media_width_use_pixel=”yes” alignment=”center” uncode_shortcode_id=”114168″ media_width_pixel=”420″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”191644″]<\/p>\n

Sustainable aid: Cap Anamur’s mission in Sierra Leone<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Our work does not end when a patient is discharged. Cap Anamur has been supporting the reconstruction of the healthcare system in Sierra Leone since 2003 – with a focus on fighting tuberculosis, especially in children.<\/p>\n

What we do:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Running and supporting the Ola During Children’s Hospital in Freetown<\/li>\n
  • Secondment of specialised medical staff<\/li>\n
  • Further training of local doctors & nurses<\/li>\n
  • Educational work on prevention and therapy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Our goal:<\/strong> to give children like Lamin, Lahai & Hawanatu and Ishmatu a real chance of survival – and to reduce child mortality in Sierra Leone in the long term.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][vc_button border_width=”0″ link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fcap-anamur.org%2Fen%2Fdonate-now%2F|title:Online%20donation|” uncode_shortcode_id=”338859″]Donate now![\/vc_button][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”804998″]<\/p>\n

    Your donation helps us to further develop the healthcare system in Sierra Leone! Please use the payment purpose “SIERRA LEONE”. Thank you very much!<\/h5>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner limit_content=””][vc_column_inner width=”1\/1″][uncode_block id=”55966″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Tuberculosis kills a child every three minutes – Cap Anamur fights against silent dying in Sierra Leone with targeted aid for diagnostics, therapy and education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":113870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[196,187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sierra-leone-en","category-project-reports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113838"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113958,"href":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113838\/revisions\/113958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cap-anamur.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}