Guinea

With its many natural resources, Guinea is one of the richest countries on the African continent. Even so, the country is among the poorest in West Africa. On top of this, only a third of the Guinean population has access to quality healthcare. As such, a considerable number of persons affected with tuberculosis go untreated

Our impact in 2025

Modern infrastructure and holistic care

Damien Foundation’s Guinea team makes a difference thanks to its expertise in programme management and scientific research. Local health and laboratory workers are given high-quality training and supervision. In order to be able to treat TB patients as efficiently as possible, Damien Foundation also renovates health centres and fits them out with adequate equipment for bacteriological research and modern tuberculosis tests (LED microscope, GeneXpert machine) for faster, more reliable diagnosis.

Damien Foundation resolutely opts for a care model centred on the patient: medical care and socio-economic support go hand-in-hand. Through cooperation with local partners, patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and children with tuberculosis receive food aid, compensation for travel costs and full coverage of paraclinical research.

This holistic model has enabled Damien Foundation to greatly increase adherence to therapy.

The recovery percentage of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients in Guinea is currently 75%, while the global average is approximately 60%. The model adopted by Damien Foundation is praised highly by both national and international partners and will be expanded in future towards other health establishments.

Focus on scientific research

The Damien Foundation Guinea team works very closely with the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp (ITM) on research projects into innovative TB diagnostics and treatment. Recent research has focused on, among other things, diagnosis by means of aerosol therapy with surgical masks or tongue swabs, and new treatments for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.