Current Education
Situation in Mali  

Although education in Mali has been improving over the last decade, more than two million children aged between 5 to 17 still do not go to school, and over half of Mali&rsquo's young people aged 15 to 24 are not literate. Household poverty, child labor, child marriage, insecurity, and a lack of schools close to children’s homes are all factors driving the high dropout and out-of-school rate in Mali. Among children that do attend school, the absence of qualified teachers, textbooks, and low-quality school environment all adversely affect learning outcomes: the vast majority of students in fifth grade in Mali are not able to master basic mathematics and reading skills.

Mali has experienced armed conflict and political instability in the north of the country, causing displacement and stretching already scarce resources in host communities in the south.

In 2012, armed conflict and political instability in the north sent hundreds of thousands of Malians to the country’s south, further exacerbating regional food shortages.

Over 520,000 have fled northern Mali in search of safe haven in other countries, and another 330,000 have been internally displaced. Mali’s crisis has led to the collapse of public services, especially health care and education in the north.

Coming on the heels of a food crisis that sent malnutrition surging across the Sahel region, the war exacerbated food insecurity, prompting UNICEF to deploy an emergency response that continues today.

Providing Food to Vulnerable Children

The second part of our food programme is aimed at helping vulnerable children (mostly girls) living safe spaces managed by local charities in Bamako. We provide freshly cooked meals to almost 100 children living in one such space in Bamako. The aim of this project to build food security by providing regular and nutritious meals to these children within a safe space whilst they attend education and vocational programs at government-run schools and institutions.

Cataracts Blindness in Sub-Saharan Africa.

An estimated 5 million people are blinded by cataracts each year. Blindness affects more than 4% of the population in parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the most recent estimate of the burden of visual impairment indicates that 21.4 million people are visually impaired, including 4.8 million people who are blind. Despite cost-effective solutions, such as cataract removal and the provision of eyeglasses, an extremely high proportion, estimated at 2/3, of these cases of vision impairment could have been prevented or treated.

It is estimated that regionally, just three ophthalmologists per million population are available in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Overall, there is a catastrophic shortage of professionals qualified to deliver optometry services in the region, insufficient eye health personnel in rural areas, and extremely low cataract surgical rates. Projected rates of personnel and Cataract Surgical Rates (CSR) are not expected to keep up with increasing eye health needs. The study suggests that without significant investment and appropriate action, many people will continue to unnecessarily experience avoidable and disabling vision impairment and blindness in Sub-Saharan Africa.