Mission
With a vision of a world in which everybody has access to quality healthcare, the Burkina Health Foundation’s mission is to harness community involvement to develop local skills and drive sustainability with a focus on long-term healthcare solutions for the people of Burkina Faso.
The foundation operates in Burkina Faso in West Africa.
Supported Causes
Burkina Health Foundation supports causes that aim to deliver long-term healthcare services that are sustainable. Focus is placed on developing local partnerships and supporting the community to run projects for the community. The foundation believes that the community is able to help itself and should be the agents of their own development.
Burkina Health Foundation funds projects that are in line with their supported causes in Burkina Faso and is mainly focused on healthcare delivery and training.
Projects
- Healthcare Delivery – The Eureka Polyclinic located in Bobo Dioulasso is a second-level healthcare facility that offers consultations in areas like dentistry, cardiology, ophthalmology, radiology and general medical care. The facility also offers laboratory services and has a pharmacy for patients.
- Training – The Burkina Health Foundation tackled the healthcare crisis in Burkina Faso by launching a scholarship program that identifies healthcare professionals and provides financial backing for them to specialise in their field. Scholarships typically last for four years and amount to between EUR25,000 and EUR30,000. Between 2013 and 2018 eight such scholarships were awarded.
The Foundation's History
The Burkina Health Foundation’s history started in 1995 when Aidan de Brunner, one of the foundation’s trustees, met Eugene Kabore in Spain where he was studying. For the following 10 years, the two friends worked together on several informal, small-scale projects in Burkina Faso. De Brunner and Kabore hoped that their efforts would alleviate poverty in the country. It soon became clear that a more organised effort would be required and they founded dBB, the predecessor to the Burkina Health Foundation. The organisation was launched to develop a project that would help the Sequere village to fight poverty. Between 2006 and 2010, dBB worked on improving water and sanitation and healthcare in the village. One of the projects involved sinking a 100m borehole which would tap into aquifers and pump water by solar power to a reservoir.
Between 2011 and 2015, the organisation began focusing on healthcare. In 2011 a project with the goal of building a large-scale healthcare facility in Bobo Dioulasso was launched. In 2013 the name of the organisation changed to Burkina Health Foundation with the goal of establishing it as a partner alongside other health organisations and NGOs. During 2013 the first medical training scholarships were launched. In 2015 Burkina Health Foundation received a license to operate from the Ministry of Health. In the years that followed, the foundation concentrated on training local communities and establishing partnerships with the aim of establishing sustainable healthcare systems.