Southern Ethiopia - Gwent Health Link

Melrose East, Brydon Williams, Sandy Holt-Wilson, Peter Smith, Pamela Powell, Scott Gable, Michelle Hall, Lynne McDonnell, Paul Clyburn, Robyn Phillips, Peter Sampson(Chair), Biku Ghosh

Apologies

Jill curtis, Jane Hervé, Deb Scott, Grace Thomas, Sally Venn, Peter Dale, Vishnu Chandrabalan, Carole Garrick, Caroline Bird

Minutes of last Meeting

The minutes were agreed as an accurate record

Matters arising

• Ben Jordan has raised around £4000 from his triathlon.Well done Ben!
• Payroll giving money is being sorted.
• Lynne’s questionnaire was given to health centre staff and is being translated into Amharic. It will be discussed in due course with staff and at the Development Group.
• The community group has had another meeting. Biku has passed on video and letters from schools in Yirgacheffe. An email has been received for Jenny thanking the link.
• Pam climbed Mt. Kinabalu, it proved to be quite a challenge. She has raised approximately £1,600. Well done Pam!

Charity Status

Peter Sampson outlined the implications to the link of obtaining charity status. He will draw up a draft document and circulate to the group. The document will be  discussed at the  AGM of the link and then submitted to the Charity Commission for charitable status. Trustees will need to be appointed. These could be members of the link who currently hold office. However, there is a danger that this may create a two tier structure. Charity trustees are responsible for the general control and management of the administration of a charity. Paul and Sandy explained their experiences of being trustees of other charities. The opinions of the  members of the link was to keep the process as simple as possible, have as few trustees as possible and keep the objectives as broad as possible. Peter thanked everyone for their contribution.

Reports from Visit Oct/Nov 2008

Those present gave a short verbal report outlining the main points from the  recent visit.

Scott Gable – This was Scott’s first visit and his work was extremely successful. He was able to set up a histo-pathology department at Hawassa Hospital as well as the very first frozen section service in Ethiopia with the help of a very knowledgeable pathologist and technician. Scott thoroughly enjoyed his visit to Ethiopia and thanked everyone for their help and support. Scott also visited the health centres and during a visit to Yirgacheffe Health Centre he was able to repair 2 microscopes.

Michelle Hall - Michelle visited the three health centres and undertook more teaching with staff on this visit. Michelle was encouraged by the skill level of staff at the HCs and witnessed an improvement from the previous visit. The partnership of Michelle and Vishnu worked well with Michelle running the training and Vishnu repairing computers. Computers have been set up so that they open up in e-learrning.

Paul Clyburn - Paul, Jill and Richard from ‘Mothers of Africa’ ran a course in Hwassa Hospital for 18 anaesthetic nurses. Course participants had a range of knowledge and abilities. A pre and post test was completed and showed a 20% improvement in knowledge. Evaluations were also very positive. Paul said he now has a much better understanding of the needs of this group of professionals. He explained that they had learned a lot about the anaesthetic service in Ethiopia and have identified areas for further consideration on subsequent courses. ‘Mothers of Africa’ have met recently and Paul indicated that they would be interested in repeating this course in the future.

Robyn Phillips – Robyn continued with the monitoring and evaluation process in each of the 3 HCs. Changes for better had been made in all the HCs and she was encouraged that recommendations made in her reports had been acted on. Changes had been made at Wondogenet HC but she was particularly impressed by the leadership qualities of Enguday in Alaba HC. Also, the midwife and clinical nurse in Yirgacheffe HC were working well together to make noticeable changes and improve the facilities and care at the HC. Each HC had set up a Development Group consisting of HC staff members, Woreda Health Office and Community groups who had met at least once. The Exemplar Standards were discussed and agreed. Lynne’s questionnaire had been left at the health centres for them to discuss and complete.

Melrose East – Melrose had visited the 3 HCs and provided on-site teaching to staff at the HC. In total 37 staff were trained in emergency midwifery skills as well as exploring ways of maintaining normality in childbirth. Many of the staff had been trained on a previous visit and it was encouraging to note their retention of knowledge and skills. A new venture this time was the training of health extension workers, a total of 84. Teaching here was focused on ‘Safe and Clean Delivery’ with the aid of interpreters. Melrose explained that the highlight of this visit for her was the donation of two motor bike ambulances to health centres, the first of their kind in Ethiopia.

Brydon Williams – This was Brydon’s first visit and she spent the first week assisting with the CME course for midwives and clinical nurses at Hwassa Hospital. A total of 22 staff were trained in emergency midwifery skills. She felt that the practical aspects of the workshops proved to be very useful. Pre and post test had showed an improvement in knowledge and the course evaluated well. During the 2nd week Brydon visited the Health Centres and helped Melrose with her teaching. She also attended meetings with Regional Health Bureau, DfID and NGOs. She also thanked members of the link and valued the importance of the link.

Biku -  Biku thanked all members for their hard work and commitment. The midwifery course has run now for three years and works well under Dr Aberra’s organisation in Ethiopia. Peter Dale had written to the link expressing his thanks and commenting on the many positive changes since his previous visits. His son Andrew had fitted very well into the group and was excellent company. He had enjoyed his first visit to Ethiopia and hopefully will become an active member of the link.

Biku was also encouraged by improvements seen at each of the health centres. He was also impressed by the leadership qualities of Endugay at Alaba Health Centre. Biku reminded members of the other support the link had provided on this occasion.

 Motor bike ambulances had been donated to Alaba and Yirgacheffe HCs. No taxes had been paid. Instructions for use were drawn up and agreed with priority being given to emergencies occurring in pregnancy and birth for the first six months. Staff were asked to make a note of cases that would have benefited from the use of the ambulance. Transfers will be recorded in a log book so that usage can be monitored. Yirgacheffe have used their ambulance on several occasions. Some members had the opportunity to view a motor bike ambulance made in Ethiopia but thought that it was of inferior quality to the e ranger version.

2 generators were given to Wondogenet and Yirgacheffe HCs,  eye instruments,  surgical and obstetric equipment and baby cots,  training materials including overhead projectors,  WHO treatment protocols,  text books and CDs,  children’s toys, protective waer for staff and cleaning material, ,  phototherapy units,  exchange transfusion sets, oxygen concentrator, - pulse oximeter,  anaesthetic and surgical equipment and instruments. Peter dale also mended the incubator for use in Hwassa Hospital.

The link members also helped set up the first histopathology service in Hwassa Hospital as well as the first frozen section service in Ethiopia.

Meetings were arranged with Regional Health Bureau, DfID, and NGOs. Meetings with the Regional Health Bureau ensured that the link was working in partnership with the Health Bureau. The meeting with a representative from DfID in Ethiopia proved rather disappointing. Money spent in Ethiopia by Dfid could not be traced through actual field experience by the link in SNNPR.

Letters of appreciation were read out from Dr Yiffru, Dr Aberra, Dr Fekade and staff at Wondogenet HC.

Peter Sampson added his thanks to the link members. Thanks were also expressed to Vishnu for his hard work in Ethiopia and developing an excellent interactive website.

AOB
- Information on WAG funding for links has been received. A bid similar to last year will be put forward. Members were asked to think about benefits of the link to themselves, the Trust and Wales.
- Robyn asked that visit reports be completed by Dec 8th and sent to her using the Link Evaluation Template.
- Melrose reminded members that a fundraising bag packing event was being undertaken o Saturday Nov 29th in Morrison’s supermarket in Ebbw Vale. Peter Smith will contact local newspaper to help raise awareness.
- Biku has been asked to give a presentation to the Council of Churches at the beginning of January as well as to the Mother’s Union in Govilon Church. Biku recently attended a Maternal Survival round table meeting in London which included Lord Nigel Crisp, President Mary Robinson and Sarah Brown. He was the only person presenting from UK. They were impressed by how much the link achieves with such little finance.
- THET for its 20th anniversary celebration has invited Biku, Peter and Melrose to a reception at the House of Lords on Dec 11th. Peter is unable to attend so Robyn will attend in his place.
- THET will be making a Radio 4 Christmas Charity Appeal to coincide with the 20th Anniversary and it will feature Melrose’s story which she submitted for the story competition last year.
 - Melrose will make a submission for this year’s THET Case Study Competition.
- Ed, who accompanied the link on the recent visit, has completed his promotional film for THET which will be shown next week.
- Biku attended Buckingham Palace recently for a reception with The Queen given in recognition of contributions in the health sector.
- Articles will be published in the Abergavenny Chronicle and Western Mail soon highlighting activities of the link.

Best Wishes to Peter Sampson who is having a knee operation. Hope all goes well and your recovery is quick and uneventful.

Next meeting and AGM will take place on Feb 3rd2009, Education Centre, NHH 5.15 pm.