Celebrating African Motherhood - Amref

In the female ward a woman with a deep cut on her head received
oxygen and IV fl uids, and was also connected on a ventilator. Even
though the AMREF team found many more patients who would have
benefi tted from being moved to Nairobi immediately, they had to
make the diffi cult decision to airlift only seven, which was all the
chopper could accommodate.
The Makindu Police transported the medics and patients to the
airstrip, and they were airborne at 6.40pm. On board, the patients
were continuously monitored to ensure that they were as comfortable
as possible. When they landed at the Wilson Airport at 7.30, three
AMREF Flying Doctor Service ambulances and another from the
Kenyatta National Referral Hospital were waiting to take the patients
to the hospital.
And thus, as a result of the hard work of the staff at the Makindu
Hospital, the generous cooperation of the Police Air Wing and Makindu
Police, the speedy response of AMREF’s Flying Doctor Service, and the
professional care of the fl ight staff , seven Kenyans had been set on a
road to recovery that they might never otherwise have taken.
Facts and Figures
• In 2009 AMREF Flying Doctors Emergency Service (FDES) evacuated a
total of 737 patients by Air and/or Ground Ambulance. These included
388 non-members, 256 registered AMREF FDES clients, 48 members
of the Flying Doctor s’ Society of Africa, and 45 free evacuations.
• A total of 748,541 miles were fl own on evacuation fl ights, a decrease of
19 per cent, refl ecting eff ects of the recession on all levels of travel.
AMREF IN ETHIOPIA
AMREF in Ethiopia was established in 2002 and is working in four parts
of the country – Addis Ababa, Afar, Oromia and the Southern Nations,
Nationalities, and People’s Region. In 2009, the country programme was
able to grow despite the challenging environment created by the global
fi nancial crisis. Newly funded projects are bigger than previous ones – they
have larger budgets and longer programme duration.
AMREF in Ethiopia was successfully re-registered as an international Non-
Governmental Organisation in Ethiopia as per the requirements of the new
Civil Society Organisation (CSO) legislation, passed in January 2009. New
grants were received from the European Union and the Department for
International Development (DfID) in partnership with AMREF in UK, and
from AECID through AMREF in Spain to improve the health of pastoralist
communities in Afar and South Omo.
The Programme successfully published a compilation of its annual
performance reports and a booklet comprising 20 abstracts. Two research
fi ndings from Ethiopia were published in AMREF’s case studies series.
Challenges
• Skyrocketing cost of living and infl ation, high cost of construction
materials for building health infrastructure such as health posts, and
weak capacity of the local market to deliver goods and services on time
• Drought and epidemics such as acute watery diarrhoea in our areas of
operation
• Uncertainty over impact of the new CSO Law on the operations of
NGOs in the country
Programme Growth
The Programme’s budget increased from US$5.3 million in 2008 to US$6.3
million in 2009.
Achievements
In the year 2009, AMREF in Ethiopia reached more than 1,550,000
benefi ciaries (500,000 directly and over 1.05 million indirectly). The direct
benefi ciaries included 68,149 mothers, 4,701 children, 76,641 in-and-out of
school youth, 2,530 volunteer mother coordinators, 3,744 volunteer homebased
caregivers, 50,613 community leaders, 107,000 trachoma patients,
and 1,737 health care professionals. AMREF constructed 13 new health
posts and equipped 17 others. These benefi ciaries have received training
or information on HIV, trachoma, polio, malaria and harmful traditional
practices; reproductive health issues, water and sanitation, and skills in
income generation.
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