More international partnerships for Arrow Web Hospital

Dundee medical students

In the last blog we told you about the three Dundee University medical students who were planning to spend six weeks with us for their medical elective. Well, now they are halfway through their time with us. They have become very involved in the hospital routine, admitting new patients to the hospital and treating them under the supervision of our doctors. They have been assisting at out patient clinics and one of the highlights for them has been seeing newborn babies and healthy mothers after safe deliveries at Arrow Web Hospital. They have also been out with the Community Outreach Team.

Having such enthusiastic and competent volunteers for six weeks has been a great support to our busy staff team.

It hasn't all been work for Sarah, Christine and Catriona as they have managed to do some sightseeing. Their visits have included Nairobi City and a few days in Mombasa.

Sarah, Christine, Catriona and Bram taking a well earned break

Proposal for a grant to fund a new hospital

We have been very busy over the last few weeks writing a proposal for funds to build a new 21 bedded hospital on land allocated to us by Nairobi City Council. Having successfully submitted an application to the Japanese Embassy in Nairobi in April, we were asked to draw up a very detailed proposal in July. Before a final decision is made the Embassy staff may ask to undertake another "site visit" this month.

A new building will not only provide a much better environment for patients to be treated in and for staff to work in, it will also help us develop our hospital and community based services. It will help us in our application for a higher level of National Health Insurance Fund accreditation. As you may know our main income is from the Ministry of Health for every registered patient we treat. A higher level of accreditation will increase this income helping us to sustain our services. We will also be able to take referrals from other health facilities in the area. (Poorer patients pay a small registration fee and then they can receive free treatment).

NHS Grampian

NHS Grampian is a health board (or health authority) in the north east of Scotland. A few months ago we approached a senior doctor and nurse from NHS Grampian to see if the organisation would like to develop a partnership with us. NHS Grampian provides services in hospitals and the community and has close links with the local medical school and medical research institutions.( http://www.nhsgrampian.org/ )

When they heard about the work that we do and the challenges we face, Dr Jamie Hogg and Liz Tait were really keen to work with us. Jamie is deputy medical director and a general practitioner (community doctor) and Liz is a nurse and clinical governance co-ordinator. Jamie worked in Nepal from 2006-8. This included working as a doctor in a small hospital. He is also a trustee of a charity Asha Nepal which re-integrates and supports HIV positive trafficked women and children (http://www.asha-nepal.org/) . For the past five years Liz has also been a team leader for various deployments to disaster zones on behalf of the UK Foreign Office.

With the support of the NHS Grampian medical director and Arrow Kenya Board we now have a formal partnership. I am so excited as we have also been successful in getting funding for a "start up" grant from the International Health Links Funding Scheme, to enable Jamie, Liz and me to visit Arrow Web Hospital at the end of September. The purpose of the visit is to agree how the two organisations can work together for mutual benefit. Further funding will need to be applied for, to enable professional links to be developed next year.( http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-healthlinks.htm)

Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin - one of NHS Grampian's hospitals

Jacaranda Health

Did you know that in the Nairobi slums 1 in 142 women die in childbirth, this compares to 1 in 178 for the rest of Kenya and 1 in 7300 in countries with well developed maternity services ?

Last week we were very privileged to receive a visit from six representatives from Jacaranda Health, from the UK, USA, Korea and Zambia. This is a new venture which aims "to provide affordable, high quality maternity care to low income women in urban Kenya". Using vans for mobile ante natal care and outreach, they also hope to set up special clinics to offer "women centred" maternity services. Initially they hope to start this service in the Nairobi slums. With common aims and shared values we had so much to discuss. We are very pleased to announce that Jacaranda Health has chosen to work with us in a special community healthcare partnership.

Bram says that currently about 70% of babies born in the communities around Arrow Web Hospital are delivered at home, with no midwife or medical assistance nearby to help the women if there are any complications.

A very warm welcome to Jacaranda Health from Arrow Web Hospital

Discussing how we can work together

A link to Jacaranda on You Tube with a video about women in the Nairobi Slums:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6qVqREcXb8

Our website

We have also been working on updating the website so that there is more information about the work we do and to acknowledge the generous support we receive from partners, friends, volunteers and donors both locally and nationally.