Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

Bwaila Maternity Hospital in Lilongwe, (a Ministry of Health hospital) continues to handle the majority of the births in the capital city of Malawi.

In 2011 the hospital managed 14,000 births. The National Maternity hospital in Dublin, for the same period managed 9,500 births.

There are only 2 obstetricians in Bwaila Maternity and 20 fully qualified midwives. This principal challenge to safe births at the hospital and in Malawi in general is- the acute shortage of healthcare workers.

Bwaila Maternity hospital was funded by The Rose Project in 2009 replacing the old maternity hospital. For a number of reasons (including the building of an additional maternity hospital not far away) it was hoped that the number of patients attending the hospital would fall. However the number has in fact increased by three thousand annually.

Senior midwife tutor - Rachel Macleod, The Rose Project’s representative at the hospital, continues to teach the midwives and provide clinical care to the patients. Rachel, for the past three years has been actively working to assist the up skilling of midwives, in the area of clinical care delivery and management. This has taken place in partnership with the district Health officer and senior matrons at the hospital.
The impact has been substantial - manifesting itself in the reduction of maternal and infant deaths.

Good news: since the hospital was built a number of international partners have joined The Rose Project, in the effort to reduce infant and maternal deaths and improve the standard of clinical care provided to patients.

Among these partners are the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill -the Centre for Disease Control USA and Freedom from Fistula Foundation (Scotland). The latter opened a fistula unit at the hospital late 2010.

The Department for International Collaboration Norway who part funded the equipment for the hospital, continues to work with The Rose Project in the area of management training for the midwifery staff. This organisation are also funding a full time midwife at the hospital.

The partners together have implemented a number of new initiatives at the hospital including:
• A midwife clinical mentoring team
• Individual skills assessments and skills improvement for midwives
• New obstetric skills lab
• In service training for midwives
• Setting up of a hospital Library
• Norwegian exchange program and Management skills workshop
• Electronic register for admissions and discharges (Baobab International)

ACHIEVEMENTS in the Labour Ward

• 20 of the most experienced midwives have formed Bwaila clinical mentoring team. (BCMT) This team will ultimately be responsible for the supervision, training and mentoring of both full time staff and students, in the Labour ward.
• Three senior midwives travelled to Norway for a management training course and a follow up course will take place in Bwaila Maternity this year. Since their return there are signs that the labour unit is working more efficiently and there in a concerted effort to manage work rotas, shortages etc in a more efficient manner.
• Whilst BAOBAB International inserted the electronic system in the hospital last year , the midwives were not trained in its use. With additional funding, six IT technicians have been employed to work alongside the midwives 24/7 to orientate and support them through the initial months. It is proving to be very successful.

Lighthouse Outpatient Clinic (funded by The Rose Project in 2006)
Lighthouse clinic is situation next door to the Bwaila Maternity Hospital and works in partnership with the hospital in the area of prevention of mother to child HIV transmission. The workload at outpatient clinic continues to grow steadily, with over 4,000 visits per month. Approximately 234 HIV positive patients are commenced on treatment each month. 66% of the patient reviews are made by nurses, leaving the more complex cases for the few clinicians available. The acute shortage of healthcare workers is the principal challenge to healthcare distribution in Malawi.

HIV Counselling and Testing in Rural Areas (2008-2012)
This programme (co-funded by Irish Aid) is its fourth and final year. The aim of the programme is to bring HIV testing to the rural clinics surrounding the capital city of Lilongwe. A particular emphasis is on ensuring that all expectant women have access to HIV testing through the existing ante-natal clinics.

Overview of programme
A Joint initiative by TRP and Lighthouse in partnership with Irish Aid.

BACKGROUND HISTORY AND CHALLENGES
Approximately 30% of all new HIV infections are due to mother to child transmission.
In Lilongwe there are 90-100,000 births annually within a population of 1.5 million.
Of these 15,000 to 20,000 of babies are infected with HIV.
HIV status is known for fewer than 6% of births
There are still low numbers of HIV positive women receiving therapy at antenatal clinics (7%)
Main provider of PMTCT in Lilongwe University of North CArolin only provides 25% coverage.

PROJECT AIMS
Provide 50,000 HIV tests per annum tripling the number of women accessing HIV counselling and testing in antenatal settings in Lilongwe district from 25,000 to 75,000 thereby enhancing service provision and increasing coverage.

RESULTS
Total number of people tested 374,552
Total number of people referred for treatment 25,309

The Rose Bowl Sculpture commissioned in 2006 - Sponsored by D2
The Rose Project commissioned a sculpture of Rose Atieno in 2006 to commemorate her life and the 28 million lives lost due to the HIV on the African continent. St Stephens Green Park in Dublin was home to the sculpture for six years.

In June 201, the Office of Public Works indicated that they required the space for temporary exhibitions and invited us to find a new home for the sculpture.

The Board of the Rose Project are pleased to announce that the final ‘resting place’ for Rose will be in Dublin City University campus. Professor Brian Mac Craith accepted the offer of the sculpture indicating that it was a wonderful gift to the university.

Dublin City University will host an annual World AIDS Day lecture which will involve student participation.

DCU has a strong commitment to global health through a number of their schools particularly the school of Nursing which are involved in a Global Health Initiative with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Current Political Situation
President Joyce Banda has already made a number of decisions which is likely to reinstate Aid from its principal donor - Britain. During the previous regime Aid had been cancelled due to corruption at the highest level of government. The official jet airline has been sold of with a number of Mercedes cars also being sold. Within the past week, The Malawian government has said it will not host an African Union summit in July because the continental body has insisted that Sudanese president Omar al- Bashir, wanted on charges of genocide, be allowed to attend the meeting.

The decision by Malawi’s new president, Joyce Banda, marks an about-turn in the country’s position towards Mr Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Ms Banda’s predecessor, Bingu wa Mutharika, who died in office in April, had defied calls to apprehend Mr Bashir and allowed the Sudanese president to enter and leave the southern African country in October 2011.

In a recent letter to the Malawian government, the AU insisted that Mr Bashir be permitted to attend the summit, scheduled for July 9th to 16th, despite the arrest warrants pending against him. (Irish Times June 11th 2012)

From the health perspective, the new president has appointed Dorothy Ngoma as the government’s Safe Motherhood consultant. Ms Ngoma was been a huge force for change within the nursing and midwifery area and is acutely aware that unless the severe shortage of skilled healthcare attendants is address in Malawi, the tragically high number of infant and maternal deaths associated with giving birth will not be addressed.

April 19th 2012
President Joyce Banda is inaugurated as the new Malawian President. The country has been in the grips of an autocratic regime for the past number of years under the rule of Bingu Wa Mutharika. This has lead to immeasurable suffering for people requiring healthcare, due to shortages of medicines and hospital closures. Bwaila Maternity Hospital is grossly overcrowded, as many Christian Missionary Hospitals have been forced for financial reasons to close.

MARCH 2012.
Due to the ongoing political unrest in Malawi under President Mutharika essential drugs continue to be a huge challenge. Shortage of gloves, sutures, catheters, IV fluids and drugs have become a normal part of everyday life on the unit. Shortage of fuel continues to affect the provision of care to patients. Episodes without power due to fuel shortage continue. There were also long periods without a water supply in the month of April due to some important repairs on the main system. This was particularly challenging.

Sept 8th Lilongwe 2009

All is progressing well towards the opening of the new hospital with great excitement in the air I t is a real honour for the Rose Project to welcome former President of Ireland and UN High Comminissioner for Human Rights, to officially opening the hospital along with the Vice President of Malawi.  Dr Robinson  President of Realizing rights is championing the issue of maternal mortality

Whilst the building is ready the greatest challenge is the acute shortage of healthcare workers. The Rose Project along with a number of International partners including UNICEF is working to address the situation in particular the shortage of doctors and nurses. With the generous support of UNICEF we have employed a full time very experienced midwife Rachel Macleod, to work alongside her Malawian counterparts. Rachel’s made aim is to assist the senior nursing staff at the hospital, with up schilling of midwives and overseeing the smooth transition from old to  new maternity hospitals.

In addition the Royal college of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG UK) is assisting The Rose Project to source medical staff from outside the country as a temporary measure,  with 12,000 annual births at the hospital  and only one full time resident obstetrician, all the assistance possible is needed. The good news is that the Malawian government is funding the College of Medicine to train more doctors however it will be a long time before there is a sufficient number. In addition it will be vital to ensure that the working conditions for these individuals is attractive otherwise when training is complete they will leave the country. There is an additional cadre of healthcare worker in Malawi, which does not exist n Europe. Clinical Officers carry out a four year training programme at the college of Health Sciences and deliver the bulk of medical care. These are very competent, though under acknowledged within the healthcare system. The Rose Project along with a number of national and international organisations  looking at ways to address this situation

Sept 9th 2009

A number of Irish donors including Denis O Brien visited the new hospital. They also visited the HIV clinic which is beside the new hospital. This clinic was funded by the Rose Project in 2006.The focus of care at the clinic is on Prevention of Mother to Child HIV transmission during pregnancy. Since the clinic opened 6,000 people have been placed on AIDS This clinic will work closely with the new maternity hospital in the area of mother to child HIV transmission

Sept 10th 2009

The meeting with the District medical Officer was focused on the need for the District to rise to the challenges the new hospital is presenting. This is very difficult due to the shortage of personnel. In a hugely under resoursed healthcare system, a new hospital is bound to present many difficulties, however Dr Ndovie is one of the most enthusiastic people I have worked with and so we are   fortunate. In the afternoon I visited the ministry of health and spoke with the chief district nursing officer who assured me that midwives finishing their training in both September and December will be joining the existing midwives at the new hospital. A total of 8 midwives will be allocated to the hospital but we need 40. To address the shortage the Rose Project is funding the sponsorship of additional nurses to train in midwifery at the university of Malawi. This programme will commence in December and will bring an additional 16 midwives to the force. Hopefully within the next two years the administration of the hospital will in a position to have a  three shift rota in place, each  shift for 8 hours. Presently there are only enough nurses to work a two shift rota, this leads to total exhaustion among the staff and  inevitable mistakes.

10th September 2009

Today, we organised a Chinese meal for all the senior nursing staff and it went off very well. Due to the staff shortages, we had the meal in the library next to the hospital rather in the Chinese restaurant.  It went very well and it was agreed by all to have been a good team building exercise .

11th Sept 2009

I visited the visited the College of Nursing.

The Rose Project is working with the department of nursing (Kamuzu College of Nursing) at the University of Malawi, on a midwife sponsorship programme.  We will fund extra midwives to be trained and in return the midwives will commit two years to the maternity hospital. This sponsorship programme will commence at the university in December 09 and the first group of midwives will join the staff at the maternity hospital, in December 2010

Sept 12th 2009

This morning I visited the  new Wellness Centre which is complete and the staff are fully installed. This is a new healthcare centre which the Rose Project has funded; it will be operated by The Malawian Association of Nurses and Midwives  with additional funding from the Norwegian Nurses Association. Healthcare workers in Malawi are severely overstretched and require support at many levels. The HIV pandemic has seriously overstretched an already challenged healthcare service. Many of the nurses  and midwives work 16 hour shifts due to the shortage of personnel. In addition many healthcare workers have become infected  through injuries in the work place such as needle stick.

In addition to providing holistic healthcare to the healthcare workers, this centre will also provide care to their families. The concept of a Wellness Centre is the brain child of the Swaziland Nurses Association where it has been in operation for five years and has proven to be most successful. Lesotho and Zambia followed suit and both these countries are experiencing a positive impact on the health force.

Sept 13th 2009

Finally this morning I finalised plans for the opening of the maternity hospital with Rachel our representative in Malawi, and ensured that all the invites had been delivered.

Mary

Please take the time to read this letter written after consultation held with
the UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibe during Marchin New York which included the
World AIDS Campaign’s Women’s Coordinator, Claudia Ahumada.
It outlines key priorities for the women’s movement and commitments from UNAIDS.

March 10, 2009

Michele Sidibe
Executive Director, UNAIDS
20, Avenue Appia
CH-1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland

Dear Michel Sidibe,

We are writing to express our sincere gratitude for meeting with women leaders from around the world during the Commission on the Status of Women, on March 3, 2009, at the Ford Foundation. Your openness to dialogue and commitment to ensuring that the work of UNAIDS addresses sexual and reproductive heath and women’s rights are most welcome.

We greatly appreciate your public pledge to concretely address the following during your tenure at UNAIDS:

•                 Comprehensive sexuality education, particularly for young people
•                 Violence against women
•                 Comprehensive approaches to sexual and reproductive health and HIV
•                 Mother-to-child/vertical transmission of HIV
•                 Access to female condoms
•                 Fostering collaboration between the HIV and women’s movements
•                 And the centrality of women’s rights to the work of UNAIDS.

We also welcome your candid conversation with us that signals a commitment on your part to remove artificial divides in the fight against HIV/AIDS, bringing together human rights, gender equality and sexual and reproductive health to the center of the global response to HIV/AIDS, including by not shying away from the public health issue of unsafe abortion.

As you suggested, we will be working with your staff in our countries to advance this agenda. It would help enormously if the following could happen to facilitate this:

1.                 UNAIDS sharing this record of our meeting with your country and regional staff
2.                 Including meetings with women’s groups in your meeting agendas when you visit countries and communities
3.                 Including women’s rights organizations as a specific constituency for all UNAIDS consultation processes

Your leadership is essential to continue engaging with women’s organizations in strengthening UNAIDS’ work on advancing gender equality as a crucial response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

We look forward to continuing this effort and making our joint vision a reality fo women, men and young people around the world.

Sincerely,

Claudia Ahumada, Women’s Campaign Coordinator, World AIDS Campaign
Carmen Barroso, Regional Director, International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region, USA/Latin America and the Caribbean.
Mabel Bianco, Director, Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM) and International AIDS Women’s Caucus (IAWC), Argentina.
Ishita Chaudhry, Founder & CEO, The YP Foundation, New Delhi, India.
Lesley Ann Foster, President, Amanitare Sexual Rights Network, Africa Region.
Gigi Francisco, General Coordinator, Development Alternatives with Women for A New Era (DAWN), Philippines.
Alexandra Garita, Senior International Advocacy Coordinator IPPF/WHR and North America Delegate to the UNAIDS PCB NGO Delegation.
Adrienne Germain, President, International Women’s Health Coalition, USA/Global.
Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, General Secretary, World YWCA, Switzerland/Global.
Edinah Masiyiwa, Executive Director, Women’s Action Group (WAG), Zimbabwe.
Anita Nayar, Research Coordinator Political Ecology, Development Alternatives with Women for A New Era (DAWN).
Wanda Nowicka, President, Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning; and ASTRA -Central and Eastern European Women’s Movement for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Poland/Eastern Europe.
Zo Randriamaro, Training Coordinator, Development Alternatives with Women for A New Era (DAWN).
Ishita Sharma, Coordinator, The YP Foundation, New Dehi, India.
Serra Sippel, Executive Director, Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), USA/Global.
Elisa Slattery, Regional Manager and Legal Adviser, Africa Program, Center for Reproductive Rights, USA/Global.

Mary Donohoe & Ms. Tamika Nyondo were interviewed on Today with Pat Kenny on RTE Radio 1, on Tuesday February 10th.

Podcast link: http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2009/pc/pod-v-100209-8m36s-todaypatkenny.mp3

Mary Donohoe thanked the Irish public for their great support to the work of The Rose Project. It was noted that the new Central Maternity Hospital, funded by The Rose Project in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, will open ahead of schedule in May 2009.  A formal opening ceremony will take place in October 2009.  Ms Tamika Nyondo spoke of the impact of The Rose Project at community level through the iconic ‘Lighthouse clinic’, also in Lilongwe, Malawi.  Ms Nyondos mother is a nightnurse at the Lighthouse Clinic.  Ms Nyondo shared her view that the work of the Lighhouse has brought great direct benefit to the people of Malawi, and helped remove the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS in Malawi. A podcast of this interview is available on the RTE website

http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2009/pc/pod-v-100209-8m36s-todaypatkenny.mp3

The Rose Project welcomes President Barack Obama as the newly inaugurated 44th President of the United States.

Rose, the inspiration for The Rose Project, was a young Kenyan woman who died of AIDs in 2003.  The Rose Project celebrates its common link to Kenya and to President Obama.

This theme for 2008 “Dignity and justice for all of us”  reinforces the vision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as a commitment to universal dignity and justice. It is not a luxury or a wish-list.

The UDHR and its core values, inherent human dignity, non-discrimination,equality, fairness and universality apply to everyone, everywhere and always.

Teh Declaration is universal, enduring and vibrant, and it concerns us all.

Letter from Mary Donohoe as published in The Irish Times Wednesday Dec 10th:

Dear Madam,

The greatest challenge to healthcare delivery in African countries is the acute shortage of healthcare workers, in particular doctors and nurses

In many cases healthcare systems have been brought to their knees as a result of HIV and associated TB infections.

In Malawi for example, there is one doctor and 56 nurses per 100,000 patients.

In this the 60^th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights, we in the developed world need to create healthcare partnerships with these struggling nations, that will facilitate the delivery of healthcare and in turn reduce the unconscionable level of human suffering.

Click here to see Mary Donohoe on TV 3 Ireland AM show