The mission for Sub-Saharan Africa is to save lives of babies born with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus through providing life-changing surgeries, medications, and public awareness about Spina Bifida. In Africa, Lamin Keita's Hope started their first chapter in the Gambia.

 

The Keita family has experienced firsthand the demands, difficulties, and challenges of living with and managing a child with Spina Bifida. The Keita’s immigrated from The Gambia and have passionately taken it upon themselves to co-found Lamin Keita's Hope to provide support to individuals living with Spina Bifida in the USA, Sub-Sharan Africa. Their mission was communicated to other Gambia-born US Citizens and Gambians back home who have equally embraced and joined as board members or other management roles, to support the formation of the nonprofit organization.

 

The Gambia, a low-income country where this disease is quite common, has limited to no support for individuals affected by Spina Bifida. The nonprofit organization will seek funding to support the organization in managing Spina Bifida in The Gambia and serve as a springboard for the formation of similar nonprofit organizations in other Sub-Saharan countries in Africa. 

In the Gambia, patients with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus are registered and cared for by the Lamin Keita's Hope which pays for the Brain CT scans, all the medications, sutures, dressing, Ventriculoperitoneal shunts, Preoperative Laboratory investigations and other disposables needed during the entire treatment which comprises of either surgical repair of the Spina Bifida and or Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt surgery for those with Hydrocephalus.

Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus are both fatal conditions for those who do not receive adequate care. Most children eventually die if care is not given. As a permanent condition that children and families must live with for life, any support from organizations like Lamin Keita's Hope will always make a difference. Prevention through using folic acid, moringa, exercise, heathy diet, advocacy & awareness are important to the organization because patients with Spina Bifida especially the Myelomeningocele Type, the most severe type, have a lot of challenges in developing countries. The need to reduce or prevent the congenital malformation is indeed much needed, this unfortunately is not the case in Sub-Sharan countries.

 

Most newborns and children with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus are born to poor families that cannot afford to get access to a Spina Bifida back repair within the first 24 to 48hrs after birth, and/or Ventriculoperitoneal shunt, or a brain CT scan for hydrocephalus patients, their heads are too big and most of the cerebral tissue is damaged and replaced by the cerebrospinal. For patients with Spina Bifida, Lamin Keita's Hope sponsors physical and speech therapies, catheters for intermittent catheterization, prophylactic antibiotics, wheelchairs, and family financial support as needed.
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Our mission continues to be achieved through, education, financial support, advocacy, parent support groups, and quality healthcare services.