Site Visit: October 2017

Published: December 2017

In October 2017, GiveWell staff traveled to Conakry, Guinea to visit Helen Keller International (HKI) and Sightsavers.

HKI

We recommend HKI for its vitamin A supplementation (VAS) programs.

We visited Conakry, Guinea in October 2017 during Maternal and Child Health Week—an event focused on the delivery of several health programs, including VAS for preschool-aged children. HKI provided technical support to the government of Guinea for the planning of the October 2017 VAS campaign. UNICEF contributed funding and provided additional technical support for the campaign.

Our three-day visit included:

• Conversations with representatives of HKI, UNICEF, and Guinea's Ministry of Health.
• Observations of health centers and outreach posts implementing Maternal and Child Health Week programs.

Our site visit notes are here.

Sightsavers

We recommend Sightsavers for its work on programs that treat schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) ("deworming").

Our one-day visit included meeting with Sightsavers staff at their office in Conakry and visiting Guinea's Ministry of Health, the West African post-graduate ophthalmology training institution DESSO, and the national medical stores at Pharmacie Centrale de Guinée.

Notes from our visit are available here.