FHI - New Partnership Reaches Cocoa Farmers in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana

JUNE 2007 — Family Health International (FHI), the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and National Confectioners Association (NCA) have joined forces to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. The new partnership is working with cocoa farmers, their families and agricultural communities in cocoa-growing regions of both countries to increase awareness and strengthen prevention of HIV/AIDS and malaria.

Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana are among the countries hit hardest by the devastating effects of HIV and malaria pandemics. Côte d'Ivoire had nearly 1.5 million malaria cases in 2001, and one out of ten people between the ages of 15 and 49 now lives with HIV/AIDS. In Ghana, malaria affected nearly 3 million people in 2001, and 270,000 people are living there with HIV/AIDS. The four cocoa-producing regions of Ghana suffer from the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the country. Because both diseases strike people in their most productive years, the agricultural sectors of these countries continue to suffer great losses as productivity decreases and the pool of qualified workers shrinks.

"The poor are more vulnerable to malaria and HIV/AIDS, and both diseases can lead to poverty, especially in resource-constrained countries," said Peter Lamptey, FHI's President of Public Health Programs. "This is an exciting project for us, because FHI has a strong record of success in HIV prevention and treatment in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, and we look forward to building on this foundation to reach more people in the cocoa farming communities with vital information and prevention tools."

The new collaboration, launched in April 2007, focuses on rural cocoa farmers and their families. The project operates alongside the Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP) — a public-private partnership representing industry, agricultural producers, researchers, government agencies, public institutions and conservation groups focused on improving the social and economic well-being of small farmers and their communities, while ensuring the sustainability of tree crops. The STCP engages the cocoa farming community in both countries by sponsoring "farmer field schools" that train cocoa farmers in quality cocoa production and crop marketing.

Under the partnership, FHI provides technical assistance and helps STCP integrate HIV and malaria components into its programming. FHI will focus on communication activities, building awareness, promoting safer practices and training peer educators who will receive bed nets, anti-malaria medications and condoms to share with their communities. FHI will also strengthen linkages and partnerships between STCP cooperatives and associations, workplace programs and local community groups to improve access to services.

Cocoa Farmers' Field School

"The field schools have effectively reached more than 200,000 cocoa farmers in recent years," said NCA President Larry Graham. "There is good evidence to suggest that the farmers who participated in the training not only incorporated what they learned in their own farming techniques, but also shared ideas with other farmers. This peer-to-peer teaching model will help us increase awareness throughout the region and reduce the spread of malaria and HIV."

FHI has been working in both Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana since the 1980s, contributing to advances in HIV/AIDS and other infectious disease interventions, policies and strategic plans, and building successful relationship with government and non-government organizations.

PHOTOS: (Top) Cocoa farmers transport and distribute seedlings in Côte d'Ivoire. (Bottom) During a farmer field school session in Ghana, participants learn to identify diseased pods. This peer-to-peer teaching model is one method FHI and its partners use to increase awareness and reduce the spread of malaria and HIV in the region. (National Confectioners Association)