Projects
The charity supplies a mixture of direct aid and training to help support the hospital. We help the hospital staff to work on the 'obvious' problems, such as malaria, HIV and malnutrition, but also on the less glamorous ones, such as basic management skills, which are essential if the hospital is to be well run.
PROJECT NEWS
Over the last few months, we have finalised the second stage of our accounts support programme (see below for more details). Following Abdoulie Jabang's successful completion of last years training, we have agreed to support him in his ACCA Stage 2 Professional training. As part of this, however, he has agreed to stay at RVTH for a minimum of 2 years. All training will be carried out in-country, helping to ensure that as much of our money as possible is spent in The Gambia.
We are in the process of finalising our plans for the Neonatal Project. Currently, estimates of Neonatal mortality run at around 30%, a figure that is enormously high (for comparison, the rate in most Western countries is less than 1%). We are looking at training midwifery staff in basic resuscitation techniques, as well as improving the supply of drugs and equipment for the treatment of newborn babies who pick up infections.
We have also (on the advice of the VSO Engineer at RVTH) provided some additional parts for RVTH's autoclave. The manufacturers of the machine tell us that these parts will now keep the autoclave running for another 10 years, at a small fraction of the over £10,000 cost of a new machine. This is a good example of timely, focussed, economically advantageous intervention, which has enabled RVTH to use its meagre resources more effectively. RVTH's maintenance department has also benefitted from some much needed tools, funded by HTG, which will support the hospital's ability to keep its estate and equipment in good working order.
Equipment:
We have supplied two suction machines to help staff care for critically ill patients in Paediatrics and Intensive Care, as well as paying for the repair of a machine (autoclave) to sterilise surgical equipment and make it safe to use again. We are currently trying to raise enough money to extend the oxygen piping in the paediatric ward, allowing us to provide oxygen for more of the desperately sick children. Can you help?
Staff:
We are looking to recruit an experienced volunteer nurse to continue the nurse training scheme at the hospital. They will have to work harder than in the UK, with little equipment or support, for £3.50 a day. Can you help us to fund them?
Training:
We have supported two staff in the accounts department to attend evening classes, and we have paid for their ACCA membership and exams. Having done this, both passed their ACCA level 1 exams. In addition, we arranged for a day's worth of training for the whole department. Could you help support them?
Friends of RVTH
Health The Gambia is working with RVTH on a scheme to boost the opportunities for development available to nursing staff and to provide and improve incentives them to work more effectively in what are often trying, resource-poor conditions. Recent press reports in the west have focussed on the number of medical staff from West Africa who leave to work in developed countries - making it ever more difficult to deliver effective healthcare. Visitors to RVTH can see for themselves how much of a difference even £10, €15 or $20 a month can make to a nurse's working conditions.