The Rotary Club of North Atlanta (RNCA) begins the second year of a five-year global grant project to reduce serious birth defects in Ethiopia. Details of the project are listed on the Rotary Showcase:  https://spc.rotary.org/project?guid=58368E94-0EEB-425B-A603-3B33487A45D9

 Women who lack an essential, inexpensive vitamin in their diets – vitamin B-9, also known as folic acid – are at a higher risk of having a child with spina bifida, anencephaly, and other developmental issues known collectively as neural tube defects (NTDs). Some of these children will not survive childbirth, and those who do face a lifetime with disabilities including paralysis and lack of bowel and bladder control, along with shorter lifespans. Many of these cases can be prevented by introducing folic acid into the diets of women of childbearing age before they become pregnant.

For perspective, Ethiopia’s rate of NTDs is about 10X that of the United States, which has been fortifying wheat flour with folic acid since the late 1990s. Ethiopia’s NTD rate is currently among the highest in the world.

Moreover, women who have already given birth to a child with an NTD face a 10X risk of having another child with these disabilities. RNCA’s project works with health professionals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to identify these high-risk women whose children are patients in two city hospitals, providing  them will folic acid tablets for prevention and tracking subsequent birth outcomes.  

RCNA partnered with other clubs in the USA ; two Rotary clubs in Addis Ababa; and logistically with the ReachAnother Foundation, a non-profit with operations in Oregon and Ethiopia. During the first year of the project, some 800,000 high-dose folic acid tablets were purchased and distributed to a target cohort of 1850 mothers in the hospitals.  Significantly, other hospitals in Addis Ababa heard about the project and have solicited the folic acid tablets (otherwise unavailable in Ethiopia) for their own patients – an indicator of local impact of the initiative.

This [second] year, the RNCA is increasing the target cohort to 2200 patients, ordering a million more doses, and adding two more hospitals in Addis Ababa. So far, the club has raised $11,100 in donations for the second year of the project, with an expected 100% match from District 6900 and an 80% match from Rotary International. This year’s budget for the project is $46,846 after additional donations are received from our other Rotary partners.

The RCNA’s grant proposal can serve as a template for other clubs and other regions to engage in similar projects.  We also welcome additional participants in our current project.  For additional information, or to arrange a program presentation for your club, please contact Ralph Peeler, MD at rdpiiimd@comcast.net.