22 February, 2012: Health care can be very expensive for families in West Africa. Preventable diseases such as malaria often affect young children putting them at great risk. Over 48% of hospital admissions and 53% of home health visits are due to malaria in Togo.

With Plan’s support there, a group of volunteer community health care workers in regions most affected by malaria, in the south of the country in the Plateaux region, have come together to provide health care in their communities. But with regular house to house checkups in order to ensure that families are healthy, it was proving hard to reach everyone in the community and the health workers were having to travel around on foot.

So as part of a project to strengthen the universal prevention and treatment of malaria in Togo, Plan has donated 200 bicycles to the volunteers to help them to combat malaria and other preventable diseases in their community.

As well as checking on people’s wellbeing, the health workers are also teaching families how to use impregnated mosquito nets and how to recognise the symptoms of malaria.

“The volunteers help their communities in times of need. They are real patriots who are helping not just their fellow villagers but their country as well,” explains Fritz Foster, Country Director of Plan Togo.

By supporting the national malaria programme, Plan hopes that the mortality rates from the disease will decrease by 70% by 2015.

Read more about Plan's work in Togo