The Risk of Malaria During Pregnancy

By Amber Persson As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage around the world, there is a silent killer that claims the lives of thousands in countries like Niger. The plasmodium parasite in mosquitoes causes malaria, a potentially fatal disease if left untreated. Malaria is responsible for 50% of all recorded deaths in Niger. Pregnant Mothers… Read more »

It’s Hard to Imagine…

By Barbara Goldberg Since starting Wells Bring Hope 13 years ago, I’ve learned a lot about the impact of unsafe water in rural West Africa and how truly life-transforming clean water can be. Yet there was one thing I didn’t know until recently: many health clinics in rural Niger have no water at all. This… Read more »

The Long-Term Battle of Vitamin A Deficiency in Niger

With a special focus on women and children By Amber Persson Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), the main cause of mortality in children living in areas that are considered at-risk, affects 20-25% of children in Niger. Vitamin A must be acquired through diet and plays a pivotal role in the immune system and visual system. Vitamin… Read more »

Empowering Women and Girls in the Fight Against HIV

By Amber Nicolai Source: NigerTZai, Wikimedia Commons As the global HIV epidemic rages on, young women and adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa are disproportionately affected. Although women between the ages of 15 and 24 only make up 10% of the region’s population, they account for one in five new HIV cases. Gender disparity plays such… Read more »

Ouma Laouali: A Pioneering Nigerien Pilot

By: Adhithi Sreenivasan Source: U.S. Embassy Niamey Around the world, women are often severely underrepresented in aviation. The thought of a pilot typically conjures an image of a male in a uniform with epaulettes and insignia. Despite women having been involved in the origins of aviation and aircraft development, women represent a mere percent of… Read more »

A School for “Model Husbands” to Promote Maternal Health

(Excerpted from Le Monde, March 22, 2021, and edited for this format) In Niger, where the fertility rate is seven children per woman, men are called upon to change attitudes.  At the end of February, about ten men sat cross-legged on a mat shaded by the foliage of a neem tree. These “model husbands,” were… Read more »

Empowering Women Will Change the World

By Caroline Moss Source: Wells Bring Hope International Women’s Day takes place on March 8th this year. On this day we celebrate women all over the world and highlight their importance and contributions. Wells Bring Hope’s commitment to providing safe, clean water empowers women in Niger every day.    Fewer than a quarter of young women… Read more »

Alphadi: Giving Niger the Chance to Create

By Elsa Sichrovsky Source: Flickr-UNESCO Headquarters Paris For Nigerien fashion designer and children’s rights advocate Sidahmed Alphadi Seidnaly, fashion is about more than clothing: “Young boys and girls can find in fashion a form of identity, dignity, a way to express themselves, to be heard, recognized and respected.”  Alphadi strives to use fashion as an… Read more »

Fadji Maina: A Nigerien NASA Scientist Fighting Water Scarcity

By: Omair Ali Source: Awojdyla  Dr. Fadji Maina (left) with Dr. Eva Nogales (right) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2019.  Growing up with water scarcity inspired Fadji Zaouna Maina, Ph.D., to undertake the extraordinary journey from Nigerien schoolgirl to NASA earth scientist.  Maina was born and raised in Zinder, one of the largest… Read more »

Build It for Ourselves: Interview with Magaajyia Silberfeld

By Elsa Sichrovsky Source: FreeCorp “I grew up watching films and wanting to not only be in them but make them too,” is how Magaajyia Silberfeld describes her passion for filmmaking. She is the daughter of French journalist Antoine Silber and Rahmatou Keita, a Nigerien journalist, writer, and film director, whose work includes “The Wedding… Read more »