Community health worker Hawa Koné has dedicated her life to caring for children and mothers in the heart of Mali's Ségou Region. Discover how DISC-Mali, a revolutionary digital health tool, is helping her provide a lifeline for hundreds of families.
Some people choose their job.
Others, like Hawa Koné, feel like their work chooses them.
“I was born into this,” says Hawa, a community health worker (CHW) in the Ségou Region of southern-central Mali. “My father was a healthcare worker. It’s through him that I grew to love this work.”
Growing up, members of her community arrived on her doorstep with different ailments. Her father would treat them and she would see them make a full return to health.
“If he hadn’t been there that day, it wouldn’t have been good. I was really happy and proud to be my father’s daughter because he saved lives,” Hawa says.
“I saw the importance of health workers. That’s something that I will never forget in my lifetime.
“Saving lives is something you don’t even imagine. It’s not like being God, but you do a job like God’s. That’s why I love being a CHW.”
Hawa looks after 132 households across four villages. The furthest one is 7km away from her own home.
Whenever she sets off on her rounds, her tablet — and the DISC-Mali digital health app — always comes with her.
"Digital tools make our tasks easier"
In 2023, Mali became the first nation in West Africa to nationally adopt digital community health tools as part of a bold reform of its health system.
In March 2023, the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene officially launched the Digitalisation de la Santé Communautaire (DISC-MALI), developed with a collection of open-source software and resources known as the Community Health Toolkit.
The launch, in Hawa’s home region of Ségou, was coupled with the delivery of 2,000 tablets added to the 26,000 provided by various partners.
Hawa typically makes 5-10 household visits a day. DISC-Mali helps her to plan her rounds, sends her reminders about important appointments, and guides her through the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
“I can do everything on my tablet,” Hawa says. “Digitalization is very, very important. It allows me to know the population of my area, to know the households in my area.
“Every day I make my rounds in my village to check on the children and do home visits. It enables me to know if a child is sick today or if there is malnutrition.
“The difference is that the tablet tells me reminders. It always reminds me that there are things you have to do today – this child needs a follow-up, this child needs a vaccination, and this woman has a prenatal consultation or a due date. If it wasn’t for this tablet reminding us of the date, we could miss it.
“The advantage of the tablets is also that it guides you to give the right treatments. Digital tools make our tasks easier. DISC-Mali has done great work.”
"If I wasn’t there, the child wouldn’t have been saved"
Being a community health worker is in Hawa’s blood, and she can’t imagine any other way of life, saying: “Even if you gave me another job to do, if it’s not in the field of community health work, I wouldn’t like it. I love my job.”
For Hawa, it’s been gratifying to see a big change in maternal and infant mortality in her area – thanks in large part to her care and vigilance.
“Since I came here around 10 or 11 years ago, there hasn’t been a single maternal or infant mortality in my presence,” she says.
“Every day, I’m at the household so when something isn’t okay, I see it. If I see a pregnant woman is in labor, I send her to the community health center to give birth.”
This is critical in Mali. In 2022, USAID and the United Nations reported that 41% of all deaths there were preventable child and maternal deaths. Providing expectant mothers with skilled care, at a dedicated facility, and when they need it most, can reduce complications and improve the chances of survival.
“I am proud to be here because I’ve saved the lives of women and children,” Hawa continues. “I’ve done a lot to save children here, especially when it comes to malnutrition.”
She remembers how quickly she had to act when she realised a child was severely malnourished during a household visit. She used DISC-Mali to refer them to the health center in nearby Barouéli.
“The child was very, very sick and it was very complicated,” she says. “But the health workers at Barouéli treated the child well, and afterward the child was cured. When the mother returned with the child, the whole family came to thank me, saying ‘if it wasn’t for you, our child would have died.’