A heartfelt anniversary gesture
On 19 September, visitors filed into the Integrated Health Centre Marien-Ngouabi in Talangaï, north Brazzaville, watching pallets of sealed cartons roll through the gate.
The packages bore the green logo of the Julia-Bouya Foundation and contained essential antibiotics, painkillers and maternal-child kits, a contribution timed to mark the fourth year since philanthropist Julia Bouya passed away, her team explained.
Two busy clinics get a boost
Marien-Ngouabi, located in the densely populated sixth arrondissement, handles hundreds of consultations a week, yet often sees shelves run low before the month ends; staff say the fresh stock will help keep daily services uninterrupted.
The second beneficiary, the Moukondo Integrated Health Centre in Moungali, serves an equally crowded catchment area in Brazzaville’s fourth arrondissement and has been expanding its vaccination and prenatal consultations; managers collected their share of boxes later the same day.
Keeping Julia’s spirit alive
Foundation representative Dorel Eyobelé, speaking for president Christelle Paulina Bouya, told reporters that every delivery echoes Julia’s wish to “leave no mother or child behind”, a principle that steered the family to launch the organisation in 2022. (Les Dépêches de Brazzaville)
The anniversary has become a moment for action rather than ceremony, he added, recalling previous editions that focused on school kits and agricultural tools; this year, the board decided health support was the most urgent request from neighbourhood leaders.
Mission extends beyond medicine
Official statutes list multiple ambitions: promoting family well-being, funding awareness campaigns against chronic and incurable diseases, backing patients with transport or accommodation, and cooperating with authorities to build health and education centres when resources allow.
Training programmes for nurses and peer educators, together with small grants for medical researchers, are also pencilled into the roadmap, signalling that the foundation views its current pharmaceutical effort as one step in a longer journey.
Evidence of community impact
Residents of Talangaï still remember the mobile clinic deployed by the same team last year to screen disabled children; many beneficiaries later received wheelchairs and physiotherapy vouchers, according to local social worker Mireille Nkombo.
In the northern Cuvette department, smallholder cooperatives credit the foundation’s seed financing for allowing them to purchase irrigation pumps, while rural schools in Plateaux district displayed brand-new notebooks during the rentrée, all citing Julia-Bouya support. (Radio Congo)
Reactions inside the wards
As boxes were opened, nurses quickly tallied paracetamol vials, anti-malarials and sterile gloves, noting that the donation matches the treatment protocols used daily in the maternal ward; one midwife whispered that “stock-outs will be less frightening this month”.
Patients waiting for antenatal checks expressed relief at the prospect of reduced out-of-pocket expenses, while fathers seated outside applauded the gesture, mindful of the current rise in living costs across the city.
Working alongside public services
Eyobelé stressed that the initiative complements, rather than replaces, government provision, and praised municipal health officers who facilitated customs clearance for the medicines, illustrating a model of partnership often encouraged by national development plans.
Health observers in Brazzaville regularly call for such synergies, arguing that community-led logistics can move faster at neighbourhood level, especially in high-density districts where demand spikes unexpectedly.
A donation with lasting resonance
By choosing staple drugs and maternal kits, the Julia-Bouya Foundation targeted two of the most vulnerable groups in urban clinics: newborns and their mothers, echoing the late philanthropist’s conviction that “the first breath of life deserves a safety net”, her relatives remind.
With the cartons now stacked in pharmacy storerooms and the anniversary bouquets laid at Julia’s memorial, attention turns to the next pledge on the foundation’s calendar; after medicine, the board hints that training and research funding could be the upcoming priority.
