Celebrating African Motherhood - Amref

AMREF IN SOUTH AFRICA
AMREF started work in South Africa in the early 1990s. The establishment
of AMREF in South Africa country offi ce coincided with the election of the
fi rst democratic government in South Africa. In 1995, AMREF was offi cially
registered in South Africa as a Not-for-Profi t Organisation. From its small
beginnings, AMREF in South Africa has worked to assist in the development
of an effi cient, integrated health care system in the country based on
primary health care principles, gender equity and community participation,
and building on lessons learnt by AMREF in East Africa.
Achievements in 2009
In 2009, AMREF in South Africa continued to focus on strengthening the
capacity of the programme to deliver quality results.
• AMREF received funding for Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health
activities in South Africa. A new project on Child Survival project was
rolled out using lessons from the Kenya’s Busia Child Survival Project.
• AMREF in South Africa participated in the National Department of
Health and Social Development’s formulation of a Community Care
Givers Policy Framework, the only NGO involved in this important
process.
• AMREF and other PEPFAR partners working in Priority Health
Districts of the country took part in the South Africa PEPFAR Partner
Performance Assessment.
• AMREF translated the National Guide for Community Care Givers
on Integrated Management of Childhood illnesses into three local
languages – xiTsonga, Venda, and siPedi.
• A Mobile Phone project dubbed IMPILO – Life in Your Hands was
launched in partnership with HIV – 911 and CellLife to facilitate access
to information on available services using mobile phones.
• AMREF made a footprint in November at the Public Health Association
of South Africa 2009 Conference held in Durban by getting eight
abstracts accepted (three oral and fi ve posters presentations).
AMREF also had an exhibition booth at the conference showcasing
the work that the organisation is doing in Africa, and South Africa in
particular. The theme of the conference was ‘Millennium Development
Goals: Measuring Progress in Public Health in South Africa’. A strong
delegation of 10 AMREF staff from South Africa, Kenya Country Offi ce,
Headquarters and Tanzania attended the conference.
OUTREACH
AMREF’s Clinical Outreach Programme was established in 1957 to take
essential medical and surgical services to remote district level hospitals.
It is a regional programme covering Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia,
Somaliland, Southern Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Every (few) weeks,
light AMREF aircraft make trips to diff erent ‘circuits’, dropping medical
specialists at hospitals along the route. The specialists are selected annually
depending based on requests from the hospitals and include general
surgeons, gynaecologists, reconstructive surgeons, medical engineers –
upto 23 areas of expertise.
The Outreach Programme operates in remote areas where communication
is poor and specialist medical and surgical services inaccessible. It has
expanded its role and now provides specialised health care and advice
to individual patients across eastern Africa. The programme also plays a
major role in building the skills and knowledge of health personnel: as they
work, the visiting specialists train local doctors and other hospital staff ,
building their capacity and paving the way for them to eventually perform
the tasks themselves. In this way, AMREF contributes to overall rural health
care development in eastern Africa. The Programme accommodates
surgeons in training, who accompany Specialists on outreach missions in
order to gain practical experience.
Over the past year, AMREF Outreach Programme covered 150 hospitals,
with specialists conducting 9,037 major operations, providing 32,189
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