The Vodafone Foundation’s World of Difference programme has given me a fantastic opportunity to achieve something very worthwhile and lasting in Northern Ghana and I’m determined to make the most of it.
My focus for the next year is establishing a Link between Southampton University Hospitals’ NHS Trust (SUHT), my chosen charity AfriKids and Ghana Health Services (Upper East Region). I suspect that very few members of the public are aware that there are almost 100 official Links between NHS organisations and their counter parts in the developing world. I hope that our project will demonstrate how powerful these partnerships can be and how valuable they are to the developed as well as the developing world.
AfriKids is an amazing child rights organisation, which delivers sustainable development in Africa. The organisation listens to what local people need, and then empowers them to make a difference and ensure that everything they do is done in a transparent way. I’ve been working with AfriKids as a part time volunteer for three inspirational years now and I am constantly amazed by the local heroes they have discovered and supported and the countless number of people and families whose lives have been transformed by their work.
Above all, I have been struck by AfriKids’ visionary aim to eliminate the need for Western aid within ten years by investing in the development of local businesses. Profits from these will fund AfriKids’ work in the future and there will no longer be a need for fundraising in the UK. As one of the Ghanaian staff put it, “AfriKids Ghana will be weaned off from dependence on the UK”.
I’m working on developing a lasting partnership with the NHS hospital Trust in Southampton, the AfriKids Medical Centre in Bolgatanga and the hospitals and clinics managed by the Regional Health Authority in the Upper East Region of Ghana where AfriKids operates.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been busy drumming up support for our project within the Trust and the reaction has been heartening. The chief executive and medical director have been very supportive and several members of staff are interested in getting involved. Their skills can make a huge difference to healthcare in the Upper East. I am absolutely delighted to report that SUHT has decided to send representatives over to Ghana in January to explore setting up a formal Link with AfriKids and The Ghana Health Service.
70% of people in the north of Ghana live on the equivalent of less than $1 per day. There is an acute and chronic lack of healthcare staff in the area. To put this into perspective, in the UK there is roughly 1 doctor for every 250 people and in the Upper East Region of Ghana, 1 doctor for every 36,000!
The healthcare professionals in northern Ghana are inspirational. They could have a much easier and more prosperous life in the south of the country or abroad, but choose to stay in the north to serve their communities. Many doctors, midwives and nurses work as single handed practitioners in remote corners of the region, often cut off from the rest of the world by the lack of transport, poverty and annual flooding.
This is where the Link with Southampton comes in. There are many skilled and experience doctors, nurses, radiographers and others eager to offer training and support to their Ghanaian colleagues. We believe that access to such training will attract more Ghanaian staff to the area and support those who are already working there.
For more information on the AfriKids project, see our video on YouTube here:
