(ReachAnother Foundation founder, Drs. Marinus and Jan Koning | Photos courtesy of ReachAnother Foundation)
An Extraordinary Story
Most of us envision retirement as a time to slow down, relax, take up new hobbies, work on our golf game — not so for Dr. Marinus Koning, who has changed the lives of thousands of families in Ethiopia through his Bend-based organization, ReachAnother Foundation. The story of ReachAnother starts in 2009 when Marinus embarked on a medical mission to Ethiopia just after finishing a long and fulfilling 35-year career as a surgeon in Central Oregon. There, he noticed an alarming rate of preventable birth defects (spina bifida and hydrocephalus), a severe lack of medical capacity and little access to necessary surgical equipment.
With only one neurosurgeon to serve the entire 90+ million population of Ethiopia at the time, many children were put on long waiting lists for a surgery that would not arrive in time. Marinus invited his identical twin brother, Jan, who is also a retired surgeon, to join him in Ethiopia and ReachAnother Foundation (also affectionately known as the “NGO of the Twins,”) was founded to address the neural tube defect crisis in Ethiopia.
In the last 12 years, ReachAnother has provided funding for over 9,000 brain and spinal surgeries for children born with life threatening birth defects, helped train 60 neurosurgeons and donated over $1 million of medical equipment and supplies.
A Worldwide Impact
Did you know that fortification of enriched wheat and other grains with folic acid in the United States in 1998, has prevented almost all cases of folic acid preventable spina bifida?
It’s astounding that a simple vitamin added to a staple food can prevent such a tragic birth defect safely and for so little cost.
Studies have shown that over 30 percent of the women of reproductive age in Ethiopia are deficient in folate or folic acid. Given that these defects are largely preventable, ReachAnother set out to advocate for a long-term solution to this crisis and therefore save the lives of tens of thousands of Ethiopian babies. Today a solution is at our fingertips with the fortification of salt with folic acid. Once fortification is implemented, Ethiopia can be a trailblazer for salt fortification and ReachAnother can build from that experience and share it with other countries to amplify its impact.
Long Time Ethiopian Partner Appointed as First Country Director
ReachAnother is honored to announce that Ethiopian pioneer in combating the spina bifida crisis with food fortification, Yakob Ahmed, has taken on the role of in-country director. Yakob was until recently the Director General for Medical Services at the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and instrumental in the government’s strategies and policies in terms of health promotion, disease prevention and clinical services.
“I’m delighted that Yakob has decided to join the ReachAnother team and that he will coordinate our food fortification programs, as well as extend the capacity of our local pediatric neurosurgery centers of excellence and prioritize the surgical instrument recycling project,” said Koning.
Evening for Ethiopia Gala
If you would like to get involved and support ReachAnother, consider attending their annual Evening for Ethiopia Gala on Saturday, October 15 at UUFCO for an Ethiopian inspired dinner, live auction, marketplace, dessert dash and more. You can find information and buy your tickets at reachanother.org. Evening for Ethiopia is presented by The Ladd Group and Bend Ophthalmology. Their generous support contributes to creating a better world for all children.
