Muso Ladamunen (Project Muso), one of our key partners in Mali, has been selected as a finalist for the first Caplow Children’s Prize. Offering an award of $1 million, the Caplow Children’s Prize which has been launched this year is the biggest humanitarian prize dedicated to work saving the lives of children. The prize focuses on innovative projects that save the lives of children aged 0-5, in keeping with the 4th United Nations Millennium Development Goal which aims to reduce the mortality rate of this age group by two thirds between 1990 and 2015. The competition is open to anyone – organizations and individuals – with “a credible and cost-effective solution for saving lives”.
Project Muso, who have helped to deliver Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program in Mali since 2009, were chosen, along with another seven finalists, from a total of 565 proposals received from 70 countries around the world. The finalists were selected by a panel of expert judges. Project Muso stood out because of their work on rapid pediatric medicine – a community health-based intervention.
The key target of the planned intervention is that 85 per cent of children in the rural area of Yirimadjo will be treated in their homes within 48 hours of becoming ill, to be achieved by the training and mobilization of a network of Community Healthcare Workers. These workers will provide the link between the healthcare system and the community, providing outreach and receiving referrals. In Mali, where 128 of every 1,000 children do not make it to their fifth birthday, this type of rapid intervention has the potential to prevent deaths from common diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, and neonatal illnesses.
The overall winner of the Caplow Children’s Prize will be announced in December.
Watch this video to learn more about the prize and see the other finalists:
“The Muso team aims to live in a world where every person can claim their right to heath and where every child has a chance to thrive. Muso is changing the way that health systems work and as a result has been able to eliminate countless preventable deaths in our community.
Muso, partnering with the Malian Ministry of Health, Tostan, and Partners in Health, does this by bringing health care to every doorstep, by creating a rapid referral network of community members who accompany kids to treatment at the earliest sign of sickness, and by working to overcome the root causes of poverty that cause disease in the first place.
This award will support Muso’s center of excellence and build global awareness of our replicable child survival model. The funding will position Muso to continue its rapid growth trajectory, saving lives in the world’s most vulnerable places”
Dr. Djoume Diakite, Health and IT Program Manager, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist and Co-Founder of Muso
