Celebrating African Motherhood - Amref

More documents

Recommendations

Info

6 FROM THE CHAIRMAN Dr Pascoal Mocumbi With the world reeling from the eff ects and uncertainty of the global economic crisis, AMREF approached the last year with caution. The global community was experiencing a crisis of a magnitude not experienced in probably over 40 years. In sub-Saharan Africa, the impact of the fi nancial crisis, coupled with prolonged drought and increasing demands on dwindling government resources, meant that the communities where AMREF works needed our interventions more than ever. Right now indications are that the global economy may be slowly emerging from the crunch of the last 18 months, but uncertainty still looms. In spite of these major fi nancial challenges, AMREF managed to maintain our programme portfolio at the same levels as previous years and even in some countries increased our work. This was no mean feat. I have to thank our supporters, partners, donors, governments and staff for their unwavering dedication under extremely diffi cult circumstances. Through you, the communities AMREF works with continued to get much needed support in the pursuit of better health. On their behalf, I would like to say thank you and urge you to continue investing in and believing in AMREF as we work to improve health amongst Africa’s most disadvantaged. Looking forward, AMREF’s board and management will continue to plan with caution while monitoring global developments. We will also strive to develop more ways to ensure that every dollar makes a bigger diff erence and goes a longer way as we work towards a healthier Africa. In the year 2001, world leaders came together and agreed on a set of goals to spur development and ensure equity and the rights of all citizens of the world. These eight ‘Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs), targeting the most disadvantaged people in the world, were to be achieved by 2015. AMREF recognises that going by current trends, sub-Saharan Africa will not meet that deadline. Specifi cally, MDGs 4 and 5 (to reduce child and maternal mortality and morbidity respectively) are where least progress has been made. For instance, one in 16 women is at risk of dying from pregnancy- and childbirth-related causes in sub-Saharan Africa, compared with one in 30,000 in northern Europe. This remains the largest health inequality in the world. While global, regional and national policies to improve Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) exist, the deaths of mothers and children in Africa remain unacceptably high. Progress has been hampered by poor policy implementation and weak health systems, which do not engage with or respond to community needs. This has led to poor access to and use of preventive and curative health services. Furthermore, issues such as gender inequalities curtail women’s ability to make decisions about their own reproductive health. Gender-based violence, including female genital mutilation, is high in many areas. Lack of access to health information on family planning, birth preparedness and early identifi cation of birth complications results in tragic endings, particularly for young mothers. Indirect costs of care such as transport, poor infrastructure and lack of communication, combined with these fragile health systems, pose additional barriers to accessing health care. Over the next fi ve years, AMREF will resolutely play its role in order to address the issues of women’s and children’s health. We intend to focus on improving maternal and reproductive health services – from pre-conception through delivery to the post-natal stage (family planning and reproductive health, ante-natal care, delivery and post-natal care). Through its projects, AMREF will aim to increase the proportion of women who have a skilled attendant at birth and the proportion of women who access post natal care, a critically neglected area. By improving referral mechanisms where we work, we shall be supporting the global eff ort of making sure that health systems deliver for mothers and children. AMREF will also focus on mobilising communities in order to sensitise parents, elders and health workers to the needs of adolescents related to sexual and reproductive rights. Greater awareness will in the short and longer term reduce the number of child mothers in Africa. Children under fi ve will also benefi t from improved preventive and curative health care, starting with access to Community Health Workers able to treat basic illnesses close to their families, to trained health workers in their nearest health facility. As I conclude and as we look ahead towards the coming years, I would like to challenge you and me to raise our voices and take action. We must not stand aside as the great tragedy facing African mothers and their babies unfolds before our eyes. I urge you to join AMREF and let us ‘Stand Up for African Mothers’. The year 2010 marks a change of leadership at AMREF. Dr Michael Smalley, who has served as Director General for the past eight years, will be completing his term. Under his stewardship, AMREF has achieved remarkable growth in terms of portfolio and programmes. Michael has also dedicated himself to driving AMREF to continue embracing communities as an important block within health systems, whilst taking the voice of Africa’s most disadvantaged communities to major global platforms such as the Blair Commission for Africa and the World Economic Forum. He has provided great and committed service to AMREF and Africa. I want to thank Michael for his hard work and dedication. I wish him and his family all the best for the future.
FROM THE DIRECTOR GENERAL Dr Michael Smalley In Africa, motherhood is one the riskiest and potentially the most traumatic ventures that a woman can undertake. It is a painful paradox that the birth of a baby, which in other parts of the world is an uncomplicated and joyful occasion, too often brings heartbreak and agony for African families. Every year, 280,000 women on the continent lose their lives in pregnancy and childbirth, a crisis of enormous proportions yet it receives too little attention and only half-hearted attempts to correct it. The fi fth of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals – to reduce the deaths of mothers by three-quarters by the year 2015 – is far from being achieved in Africa; in some places the situation is getting worse. Although women are the purveyors and nurturers of life, the carriers of water and producers of food, the caregivers when family members are sick, they are treated as second-class citizens. They have few opportunities to make their needs or preferences known, and little investment is made in their health and wellbeing, either by their families or governments. AMREF believes that it is of greatest urgency to address women’s health now. The death of so many women in pregnancy and childbirth is a clear indicator that all is not well with the health system in many African countries. Our Corporate Strategy focuses attention on the urgent need to improve maternal health by giving girls and women the knowledge to make informed choices about their health and sexuality; by improving access to family planning, ante-natal and emergency obstetric services; and by encouraging the support of their families and communities. AMREF has already done a great deal to help African mothers in the last 52 years, but there is so much more to be done. For the next fi ve years, AMREF has made a conscious decision to channel more energy and resources into reducing the deaths of mothers and children in sub-Saharan Africa. We will bring their plight to the fore and speak about the issues. We will raise funds for projects that promote the health of mothers and children at the community level and improve their access to services. We will advocate for governments and donors to put more money in training community health workers, nurses and midwives and improving the delivery of health services to mothers and children. As we work, we continue to seek solutions that are suitable for Africa, and to share the knowledge that we generate with governments and development partners. This Annual Report brings you examples of the innovative ways that AMREF has found to improve the health of mothers and children across Africa. The critical shortage of health workers presents one of the biggest challenges to the delivery of eff ective and suffi cient health care. In Southern Sudan, three National Health Institutes run by AMREF are supplying multi-skilled workers to urban and rural health facilities, where they are using their knowledge to save the lives of mothers and children. While training formal health workers certainly improves the quality of health care available in clinics and hospitals, AMREF believes that communities must be involved in health care if they are truly to be part of the health system. Ignorance, distance from health facilities and poverty isolate large numbers of people from the health system. AMREF has found that it is also vitally important to train community-based health workers to work and teach girls and pregnant women about good health, how to treat simple illnesses, and the importance of antenatal care and delivery. Half a million community health workers trained by AMREF provide a life-line, literally, to remote and poor communities that have little access to eff ective health care. Known as Health Extension Workers in Ethiopia, these community workers are using this training to give knowledge about good health practices to their fellow villagers. By taking ante-natal care home to pregnant women, they increase the chances of mothers and babies surviving the often traumatic experience of childbirth. In northern Uganda, Community Medicine Distributors treat fellow villagers for malaria, the largest child killer in Africa and a major cause of anaemia in pregnant women, in the fi rst critical 24 hours. Empowering communities with knowledge gives them a chance to save future generations. This is particularly so in the case of HIV, another major killer in Africa. Nine of ten children living with the virus worldwide are in sub-Saharan Africa, 90 per cent of them having been infected by their mothers during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding. Community health workers trained by AMREF in Ruvuma, Southern Tanzania, are reducing the number of babies born with HIV by encouraging pregnant women in the villages to be tested for HIV so that they can protect their children from infection. With treatment and proper nutrition, the women can live full lives and continue caring for their families. Sadly, though, thousands of children are having to navigate through life alone, having been robbed of their parents by HIV. The numbers are overwhelming and, without proper community and government structures, many are falling through the cracks. In Limpopo, South Africa, AMREF is helping to weave a network of agencies and departments to seal those cracks and give orphans as normal a life as possible. AMREF is also seeking ways to lighten the load of mothers aff ected by HIV. Not only are women and girls more vulnerable to infection than men, they are the primary caregivers in their families and communities, even when they are physically and economically weakened by the virus. The vulnerability of girls and women to HIV is the consequence of harmful cultural practices and beliefs. In Kenya, AMREF is engaging with young people in the conservative Maasai community to reduce the impact of traditional practices that jeopardise the health of girls and women. By protecting themselves from HIV and delaying the age at which they marry and have children, the girls boost their chances of surviving childbirth and raising healthy children. All of the stories we share with you in this report are about real people overcoming real issues. We urge you to join with AMREF and help us improve the health and wellbeing of mothers and children across Africa. After eight years with AMREF, it is time to hand over the reins to a new Director General. It has been a privilege to work with colleagues in AMREF and our partners. Together we have made a diff erence. Thank you for all your support and encouragement. 7
Page 1 and 2: Celebrating African Motherhood Annu
Page 3: Strong woman, with weathered skin S
Page 8: 8 VISION Better Health for Africa M
Page 11 and 12: Why Maternal, Neonatal and Child He
Page 13 and 14: 2009 OVERVIEW ... She’s grown tou
Page 15: In the female ward a woman with a d
Page 18 and 19: 18 AMREF has been supporting the Go
Page 21 and 22: AMREF IN SOUTH AFRICA AMREF started
Page 23 and 24: HEADQUARTERS Capacity Building In 2
Page 25 and 26: 2009, AVNS had enrolled 187 student
Page 27: An exciting new regional Maternal,
Page 31 and 32: SOUTHERN SUDAN Training of Clinical
Page 33: very few health centres and heath w
Page 36 and 37: 36 Door-to-Door Health Care Tadelec
Page 39 and 40: UGANDA Home-based Care Management o
Page 41: house in Atanga sub-county where a
Page 44 and 45: 44 A Blend of Health and Culture A
Page 47 and 48: TANZANIA ANGAZA ZAIDI - Prevention
Page 49: “To tell the truth, many mothers
Page 52 and 53: 52 Catch Me Before I Fall The delig
Page 55 and 56: NATIONAL OFFICES ...A touch from he
Page 57 and 58:
In February, AMREF in Canada led a
Page 59 and 60:
ITALY NETHERLANDS Many people in de
Page 61:
UK AMREF in UK diversifi ed its res
Page 64 and 65:
64 Indirect Costs 14.4% Family Heal
Page 67:
SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM Dr Michael S
Page 70 and 71:
70 AMREF in Austria Waagplatz 3 502
Page 73 and 74:
DONORS ... She smiles on and holds
Page 75 and 76:
AMREF in Italy Angelo Loy Arena Cat
Page 77 and 78:
Federazione Motociclistica Italiana
Page 79 and 80:
CREDITS Photography Boniface Mwangi
show all

Celebrating African Motherhood - Amref

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?