It took me a while to write this Editorial ... #WritersBlock! I wrote this for the #PowersThatBe - it's for the next edition of the newsletter. (PS: Most of these figures are not accurate, I just needed place holders.) Keep your eyes out for the newsletter!
12 million people are currently affected by prolonged drought and food shortages in the Horn of Africa. The worst drought in 60 years is sweeping across the region, and has sparked a food crisis in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda.
In this issue, we will see how the drought is affecting thousands, and how the Internationl Organztion for Migratn (IOM)is providing essential health care.
Our mobile medical rapid response teams are delivering much-needed basic health care to hard-to-reach populations in the world’s newest country, South Sudan. The country is emerging from years of conflict, and faces many health care challenges. More than 75 per cent of the population lack access to basic health care.
We shall discuss sex work and HIV in a cross-border setting along the Tanzanian-Kenya border. We will also examine how we are meeting the needs of vulnerable migrants in Somalia and the urgent scale-up needed for combined strategies to stop the spread of HIV.
In the last six months, IOM’s Health Division conducted over 800,000 health assessments across Africa and the Middle East, and provided health care for over 7,800 migrants in the Republic of Yemen. 12 health assessment centres have been established in Ethiopia, and 10,000 internally displaced persons in Zambia and Malawi have been reached via our mobile health teams.
Last year, IOM celebrated its 60th anniversary. It has been an unprecedented journey. Since our inception in 1951, we have grown to become the leading international agency working with governments and civil society in the field of migration. From our offices around the world, we seek to advance orderly and humane migration.
But this progress is still overshadowed by today’s realities. One area which requires global attention is scaling up equitable access to migrant-friendly HIV services for migrants and mobile populations. There are close to 200 million migrants around the world today. This is one in every 35 people.
Only through partnerships are we able to manage migration. This newsletter serves to highlight some of the ways IOM, and our partners, are making a difference.
Name: XXXXXX
Title: XXXXX
END//
Region: Kenya, Horn of Africa
Theme(s): Migration, Health, Drought
The author is a health communications consultant. Follow her on Twitter [@msanyuosire] & keep tabs on tips she shares with health communications officers by "liking" my facebook page [Mary-Sanyu Osire].
Monday, January 9, 2012
A journey through drought-ravaged northwestern region of Kenya
I just got back from a mission - this is the story I filed...
Worst drought in 60 years
It is unbearably hot in Turkana. Sprawling empty arid land stretches for miles. The worst drought in 60 years has swept across the Horn of Africa, leading to the death of livestock, crops, and children. Over 12 million people are affected, including the residents of Turkana, a district in north-west Kenya.
“I could walk up to four hours away from my house in search of water,” Alice Napong, a resident of Napadal village in northern Turkana, says.
She drapes her son to her back, places an empty container on her head, and reaches for a small container with her right hand: “We have always had to search for water, but it has never been this hard.”
Weak health systems
The nearest health centre is kilometres away, leaving pastoralist communities in remote areas of Turkana vulnerable. With limited access to safe drinking water and essential health care, waterborne and water-related diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera are common challenges. Such diseases can be successfully treated with oral rehydration solution and antibiotics, but in regions like Turkana, health centres are rare, and the few that exist lack basic supplies and qualified health staff.
Worldwide, around 1.1 billion people lack access to improved water sources and 2.4 billion have no basic sanitation. Waterborne diseases are a leading cause of preventable deaths around the world, and are among the five major causes of death in children under the age of five.
Health promotion
“My five daughters are consistently suffering from akirem (diarrhoea),” says Alice.
Alice and her children are one of many families who have received treatment for diarrhoeal diseases from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In partnership with Kenya’s Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, IOM’s mobile medical rapid response teams go to hard-to-reach mobile communities in Turkana. Equipped with re-hydration sachets, chlorine water treatment tablets, de-worming tablets, and drugs for common medical conditions, the teams distribute much needed medication and conduct mass de-worming campaigns.
Small changes can have a big impact, which has been proven by health and hygiene promotion talks that IOM is also running. Sensitive to sustainability and cultural practices, IOM’s health promotion campaign complements local knowledge with indigenous solutions. For example, communities are encouraged to wash their hands with ash, a local disinfectant that is free and easily accessible. 55,000 vulnerable members of the community are being targeted by IOM’s outreach.
In 2009 and 2010, IOM dispatched four teams on similar missions to crisis-affected communities in Kenya’s Rift Valley, Western, and Nyanza provinces that were struggling to prevent and fight against waterborne diseases. Over 492,000 people benefited.
According to Grace Khaguli, Field Coordinator for IOM’s emergency health project in Turkana: “Due to the scale of the drought, water is scarce. This makes Alice Napong and her daughters more inclined to drink dirty, unsafe water. What is happening to them is replicated in households across Turkana.”
Residents use contaminated water, and the area has very few toilets, which contributes to improper waste disposal.”
Senior Elder Echepan Ngelecha, a community leader in Nadapal Village, says: “In our culture, we divide illnesses into those caused by God and those caused by Ngidekesiney ka ekapilan (witchcraft). Thanks to IOM, we are now aware that we can do certain things to prevent illnesses. This partnership needs to continue because it takes time to change behaviour, like remembering to use ash when we wash our hands in order to prevent the spread of diseases.”
END//
Region: Kenya, Horn of Africa
Theme(s): Migration, Health, Drought
The author is a health communications consultant. Follow her on Twitter [@msanyuosire] & keep tabs on tips she shares with health communications officers by "liking" my facebook page [Mary-Sanyu Osire].
Worst drought in 60 years
It is unbearably hot in Turkana. Sprawling empty arid land stretches for miles. The worst drought in 60 years has swept across the Horn of Africa, leading to the death of livestock, crops, and children. Over 12 million people are affected, including the residents of Turkana, a district in north-west Kenya.
“I could walk up to four hours away from my house in search of water,” Alice Napong, a resident of Napadal village in northern Turkana, says.
She drapes her son to her back, places an empty container on her head, and reaches for a small container with her right hand: “We have always had to search for water, but it has never been this hard.”
Weak health systems
The nearest health centre is kilometres away, leaving pastoralist communities in remote areas of Turkana vulnerable. With limited access to safe drinking water and essential health care, waterborne and water-related diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera are common challenges. Such diseases can be successfully treated with oral rehydration solution and antibiotics, but in regions like Turkana, health centres are rare, and the few that exist lack basic supplies and qualified health staff.
Worldwide, around 1.1 billion people lack access to improved water sources and 2.4 billion have no basic sanitation. Waterborne diseases are a leading cause of preventable deaths around the world, and are among the five major causes of death in children under the age of five.
Health promotion
“My five daughters are consistently suffering from akirem (diarrhoea),” says Alice.
Alice and her children are one of many families who have received treatment for diarrhoeal diseases from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In partnership with Kenya’s Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, IOM’s mobile medical rapid response teams go to hard-to-reach mobile communities in Turkana. Equipped with re-hydration sachets, chlorine water treatment tablets, de-worming tablets, and drugs for common medical conditions, the teams distribute much needed medication and conduct mass de-worming campaigns.
Small changes can have a big impact, which has been proven by health and hygiene promotion talks that IOM is also running. Sensitive to sustainability and cultural practices, IOM’s health promotion campaign complements local knowledge with indigenous solutions. For example, communities are encouraged to wash their hands with ash, a local disinfectant that is free and easily accessible. 55,000 vulnerable members of the community are being targeted by IOM’s outreach.
Photo: REUTERS
In 2009 and 2010, IOM dispatched four teams on similar missions to crisis-affected communities in Kenya’s Rift Valley, Western, and Nyanza provinces that were struggling to prevent and fight against waterborne diseases. Over 492,000 people benefited.
According to Grace Khaguli, Field Coordinator for IOM’s emergency health project in Turkana: “Due to the scale of the drought, water is scarce. This makes Alice Napong and her daughters more inclined to drink dirty, unsafe water. What is happening to them is replicated in households across Turkana.”
Residents use contaminated water, and the area has very few toilets, which contributes to improper waste disposal.”
Senior Elder Echepan Ngelecha, a community leader in Nadapal Village, says: “In our culture, we divide illnesses into those caused by God and those caused by Ngidekesiney ka ekapilan (witchcraft). Thanks to IOM, we are now aware that we can do certain things to prevent illnesses. This partnership needs to continue because it takes time to change behaviour, like remembering to use ash when we wash our hands in order to prevent the spread of diseases.”
END//
Region: Kenya, Horn of Africa
Theme(s): Migration, Health, Drought
The author is a health communications consultant. Follow her on Twitter [@msanyuosire] & keep tabs on tips she shares with health communications officers by "liking" my facebook page [Mary-Sanyu Osire].
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Trading the stool for a stall: Migrant female sex workers in Majengo, Kenya
Today, I ventured out to Majengo, a heavily populated settlement zone on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city. I met with two migrant female sex workers who have been part of a peer education programme for the past two years. They talk about the impact the programme has had on their lives.
*Rosemary Maliwa sells fruits for a living. One year ago, she worked as a female sex worker, earning less than one dollar a day. She shares her story with us…
At the break of dawn, *Rosemary Maliwa walks out of her house. She pushes the door gently, to keep from waking her three grandchildren who are coiled up on the floor of her one-bedroom tin house. With fruits tightly packed into a small bucket, she wades through burst sewage pipes, to a makeshift wooden structure by the side of a road.
25 years as a sex worker
This is Majengo. A densely populated neighborhood on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city. Tanzanians, Rwandese, Ugandans and Congolese weave through the crowd of Kenyans, dodging speeding cars that fill the air with clouds of dust.
“If you came door-to-door for one week, you would not have met all the female sex workers in Majengo,” Rosemary, a migrant from Tanzania, explains.
She came to Majengo 26 years ago.
“A friend who cared for me brought me here; she worked here too.”
Rosemary was a housewife, and she relied on her husband for upkeep. When he became abusive and started spending more nights away from home, she decided to leave with their three children.
How much money I made depended on how much risk I was willing to take
On a good day, Rosemary was able to see ten clients. But there were days when no clients came to her house.
“The calculation was simple: ‘Should I let my children go hungry, or should I take the risk of having unprotected sex?’ It was not a difficult decision – I had unprotected sex many times.”
Along the way, Rosemary contracted the HIV virus.
Trading the stool for the stall
In Majengo, a female sex worker sits on a small, wooden stool outside her house to symobolize that she is at work. When a client approaches her, she follows him into her house with the stool in hand.
“One day, I learned about a peer education programme that NOPE and IOM were running. I was told that they could help me start up a business. I had always wanted to quit sex work, but I was unable to get start-up income for a business from any bank - it is hard when your papers are not okay. I grabbed the opportunity when it came my way.”
One year ago, Rosemary traded the stool for a stall. She now trades in fruits. She supplements her income with money she makes off fabrics she sells.
"When our clients see us on these stools, they know we are at work." Photo/Mary-Sanyu Osire
*Victoria Kalume is a female sex worker. One year ago, she did not know that undocumented migrants also have rights. Today, she insists that everyone deserves to be respected. Find out why…
Illegally connected electricity lines hang dangerously low over *Victoria Kalume’s house.
“Come in, have a seat,” she motions with her hand.
She grabs a wrinkled handkerchief to wipe sweat off her forehead. A small radio in the corner is blaring. She breathes heavily.
Victoria just saw a client.
She is a migrant female sex worker, one of hundreds of Congolese who make a living in Majengo, a heavy populated settlement zone in Nairobi.
Treated like dogs
“Kenya has had three presidents since independence; and we were here before the first president, yet law enforcement officers used to treat us like dogs.”
Sex work is illegal in Kenya. Victoria’s situation is exacerbated by the fact that she is an undocumented migrant.
Change
IOM and NOPE have been running human rights sensitization classes for sex workers and law enforcement officers, in an effort to raise public awareness about the rights of vulnerable migrants, and to empower migrants to speak up for their rights.
“Things have slowly started to change. These days, if one of our clients refuses to pay, we are confident enough to report the case to police. This was unthinkable a few years ago,” Victoria says.
She digs into her handbag and retrieves scrap paper with a number scribbled on it.
“If I got arrested today, I would call these people. They would help me. One year ago, I did not know what services were available. Today, I know who to go to for what kind of assistance.”
* not real name
END//
Region: Kenya, Horn of Africa
Theme(s): Migration, Health, Female sex work
The author is a health communications consultant. Follow her on Twitter [@msanyuosire] & keep tabs on tips she shares with health communications officers by "liking" my facebook page [Mary-Sanyu Osire].
*Rosemary Maliwa sells fruits for a living. One year ago, she worked as a female sex worker, earning less than one dollar a day. She shares her story with us…
At the break of dawn, *Rosemary Maliwa walks out of her house. She pushes the door gently, to keep from waking her three grandchildren who are coiled up on the floor of her one-bedroom tin house. With fruits tightly packed into a small bucket, she wades through burst sewage pipes, to a makeshift wooden structure by the side of a road.
25 years as a sex worker
This is Majengo. A densely populated neighborhood on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city. Tanzanians, Rwandese, Ugandans and Congolese weave through the crowd of Kenyans, dodging speeding cars that fill the air with clouds of dust.
“If you came door-to-door for one week, you would not have met all the female sex workers in Majengo,” Rosemary, a migrant from Tanzania, explains.
She came to Majengo 26 years ago.
“A friend who cared for me brought me here; she worked here too.”
Rosemary was a housewife, and she relied on her husband for upkeep. When he became abusive and started spending more nights away from home, she decided to leave with their three children.
How much money I made depended on how much risk I was willing to take
On a good day, Rosemary was able to see ten clients. But there were days when no clients came to her house.
“The calculation was simple: ‘Should I let my children go hungry, or should I take the risk of having unprotected sex?’ It was not a difficult decision – I had unprotected sex many times.”
Along the way, Rosemary contracted the HIV virus.
Trading the stool for the stall
In Majengo, a female sex worker sits on a small, wooden stool outside her house to symobolize that she is at work. When a client approaches her, she follows him into her house with the stool in hand.
“One day, I learned about a peer education programme that NOPE and IOM were running. I was told that they could help me start up a business. I had always wanted to quit sex work, but I was unable to get start-up income for a business from any bank - it is hard when your papers are not okay. I grabbed the opportunity when it came my way.”
One year ago, Rosemary traded the stool for a stall. She now trades in fruits. She supplements her income with money she makes off fabrics she sells.
*Victoria Kalume is a female sex worker. One year ago, she did not know that undocumented migrants also have rights. Today, she insists that everyone deserves to be respected. Find out why…
Illegally connected electricity lines hang dangerously low over *Victoria Kalume’s house.
“Come in, have a seat,” she motions with her hand.
She grabs a wrinkled handkerchief to wipe sweat off her forehead. A small radio in the corner is blaring. She breathes heavily.
Victoria just saw a client.
She is a migrant female sex worker, one of hundreds of Congolese who make a living in Majengo, a heavy populated settlement zone in Nairobi.
Treated like dogs
“Kenya has had three presidents since independence; and we were here before the first president, yet law enforcement officers used to treat us like dogs.”
Sex work is illegal in Kenya. Victoria’s situation is exacerbated by the fact that she is an undocumented migrant.
Change
IOM and NOPE have been running human rights sensitization classes for sex workers and law enforcement officers, in an effort to raise public awareness about the rights of vulnerable migrants, and to empower migrants to speak up for their rights.
“Things have slowly started to change. These days, if one of our clients refuses to pay, we are confident enough to report the case to police. This was unthinkable a few years ago,” Victoria says.
She digs into her handbag and retrieves scrap paper with a number scribbled on it.
“If I got arrested today, I would call these people. They would help me. One year ago, I did not know what services were available. Today, I know who to go to for what kind of assistance.”
* not real name
END//
Region: Kenya, Horn of Africa
Theme(s): Migration, Health, Female sex work
The author is a health communications consultant. Follow her on Twitter [@msanyuosire] & keep tabs on tips she shares with health communications officers by "liking" my facebook page [Mary-Sanyu Osire].
Monday, November 21, 2011
Assessing the impact of the US Congress' proposal to cut global health funding
This morning, I read an article published by MSF about the US Congress' proposal to cut global health funding.
Chew on this:
"According to American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR), for every 5% reduction in U.S. funding of global health programs, 182,000 people with HIV/AIDS and 2.1 million malaria patients will be left untreated; and millions of children will go without immunization against resurgent diseases like measles that can leave children with pneumonia, blindness, or death. Put another way: A 5% cut in US funding for global health is akin to shutting the doors of every MSF hospital and clinic in over 70 countries for an entire year."
Find the article at this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-spitzer/the-human-cost-of-cutting_b_1099870.html
Chew on this:
"According to American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR), for every 5% reduction in U.S. funding of global health programs, 182,000 people with HIV/AIDS and 2.1 million malaria patients will be left untreated; and millions of children will go without immunization against resurgent diseases like measles that can leave children with pneumonia, blindness, or death. Put another way: A 5% cut in US funding for global health is akin to shutting the doors of every MSF hospital and clinic in over 70 countries for an entire year."
Find the article at this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-spitzer/the-human-cost-of-cutting_b_1099870.html
Saturday, October 29, 2011
THE HORN OF AFRICA: Drought & water-related diseases
I just came back from a mission to Turkana (northern Kenya). Here's the story I filed:
Worst drought in 60 years
It is hard living in Turkana. In addition to biting poverty, recurrent droughts and floods, a poor state of infrastructure and limited access to basic health care, the region is being ravaged by the worst drought in 60 years.
Turkana, nestled in north-west Kenya, has been hit hard by the drought. Two years of scarce rains have resulted in the driest season since 1950. The effects of the drought look set to continue into 2012. Loss of pasture and water has led to the death of thousands of cattle, a main source of livelihood for pastoralist communities, who are most affected by the drought.
“I lost half my herd of goats this season; I have been here 55 years and lived through many droughts, but I have never seen things this bad,” says Ereng Nangiro, one of the 12 million people affected.
Weak health systems
Sprawling empty arid land stretches for miles. The nearest health centre is kilometres away, leaving pastoralist communities in remote areas of Turkana vulnerable. With limited access to safe drinking water and basic health care, water-related diseases like diarrhoea and cholera are ongoing challenges.
Worldwide, around 1.1 billion people lack access to improved water sources and 2.4 billion have no basic sanitation. Water-related diseases are a leading cause of preventable deaths around the world, and are among five major causes of death in children under the age of five. Such diseases can be successfully treated with oral rehydration solution and antibiotics, but in regions like Turkana, health centers are rare, and those in existence lack basic supplies.
“My nine children are consistently suffering from akirem (diarrhoea),” says Ereng.
Health promotion
Erengs’ is one of many families that have received not only health and hygiene promotion education, but also diarrhoeal treatment from one of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) mobile rapid response health teams.
In partnership with Kenya’s Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, equipped with basic commodities including re-hydration sachets, chlorine water treatment tablets, de-worming tablets, and medication for eye infections, IOM’s mobile rapid response health teams go to the hard-to-reach migrant and mobile communities in Turkana to distribute much-needed medication and conduct mass de-worming campaigns.
IOM is also running health and hygiene promotion talks, believing that small changes can have a big impact. Keeping in mind sustainability and cultural sensitivities, the health promotion campaign complements local knowledge with indigenous solutions. For example, communities are encouraged to wash their hands with ash, a local disinfectant that is free and easily accessible. 55,000 vulnerable members of the community are being targeted for IOM’s outreach.
Mobile health teams have proven to be more effective than static health facilities owing to the nomadic culture of communities in Turkana.
In 2010 and 2009, IOM dispatched four mobile rapid response health teams on similar missions to crisis-affected communities in Kenya’s Rift Valley, Western, and Nyanza provinces that were struggling to prevent and fight against water-related diseases. Over 492,000 people benefited.
According to Grace Khaguli, Field Coordinator for IOM’s Emergency project in Turkana: “Due to the scale of the drought, water is much harder to come by. This makes people more inclined to drink dirty, unsafe water. The situation is now more critical than ever. The worry is residents use contaminated water, and the area has very few toilets, which contributes to improper waste disposal. Lack of water is the main driver of epidemic water-related diseases.”
Senior Elder Echepan Ngelecha, a community leader in Nadapal Village, northern Turkana, says: “In our culture, we divide illnesses into those caused by God and those caused by Ngidekesiney ka ekapilan (witchcraft). Thanks to IOM, we are now aware that we can do certain things to prevent illnesses. This partnership needs to be continuous because it takes time to change behaviour, like remembering to use ash when we wash our hands in order to prevent spread of diseases.”
END//
Region: Kenya, Horn of Africa
Theme(s): Migration, Health, Drought
The author is a health communications consultant. Follow her on Twitter [@msanyuosire] & keep tabs on tips she shares with health communications officers by "liking" my facebook page [Mary-Sanyu Osire].
Worst drought in 60 years
It is hard living in Turkana. In addition to biting poverty, recurrent droughts and floods, a poor state of infrastructure and limited access to basic health care, the region is being ravaged by the worst drought in 60 years.
Turkana, nestled in north-west Kenya, has been hit hard by the drought. Two years of scarce rains have resulted in the driest season since 1950. The effects of the drought look set to continue into 2012. Loss of pasture and water has led to the death of thousands of cattle, a main source of livelihood for pastoralist communities, who are most affected by the drought.
“I lost half my herd of goats this season; I have been here 55 years and lived through many droughts, but I have never seen things this bad,” says Ereng Nangiro, one of the 12 million people affected.
Weak health systems
Sprawling empty arid land stretches for miles. The nearest health centre is kilometres away, leaving pastoralist communities in remote areas of Turkana vulnerable. With limited access to safe drinking water and basic health care, water-related diseases like diarrhoea and cholera are ongoing challenges.
Worldwide, around 1.1 billion people lack access to improved water sources and 2.4 billion have no basic sanitation. Water-related diseases are a leading cause of preventable deaths around the world, and are among five major causes of death in children under the age of five. Such diseases can be successfully treated with oral rehydration solution and antibiotics, but in regions like Turkana, health centers are rare, and those in existence lack basic supplies.
“My nine children are consistently suffering from akirem (diarrhoea),” says Ereng.
Health promotion
Erengs’ is one of many families that have received not only health and hygiene promotion education, but also diarrhoeal treatment from one of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) mobile rapid response health teams.
In partnership with Kenya’s Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, equipped with basic commodities including re-hydration sachets, chlorine water treatment tablets, de-worming tablets, and medication for eye infections, IOM’s mobile rapid response health teams go to the hard-to-reach migrant and mobile communities in Turkana to distribute much-needed medication and conduct mass de-worming campaigns.
IOM is also running health and hygiene promotion talks, believing that small changes can have a big impact. Keeping in mind sustainability and cultural sensitivities, the health promotion campaign complements local knowledge with indigenous solutions. For example, communities are encouraged to wash their hands with ash, a local disinfectant that is free and easily accessible. 55,000 vulnerable members of the community are being targeted for IOM’s outreach.
Mobile health teams have proven to be more effective than static health facilities owing to the nomadic culture of communities in Turkana.
In 2010 and 2009, IOM dispatched four mobile rapid response health teams on similar missions to crisis-affected communities in Kenya’s Rift Valley, Western, and Nyanza provinces that were struggling to prevent and fight against water-related diseases. Over 492,000 people benefited.
According to Grace Khaguli, Field Coordinator for IOM’s Emergency project in Turkana: “Due to the scale of the drought, water is much harder to come by. This makes people more inclined to drink dirty, unsafe water. The situation is now more critical than ever. The worry is residents use contaminated water, and the area has very few toilets, which contributes to improper waste disposal. Lack of water is the main driver of epidemic water-related diseases.”
Senior Elder Echepan Ngelecha, a community leader in Nadapal Village, northern Turkana, says: “In our culture, we divide illnesses into those caused by God and those caused by Ngidekesiney ka ekapilan (witchcraft). Thanks to IOM, we are now aware that we can do certain things to prevent illnesses. This partnership needs to be continuous because it takes time to change behaviour, like remembering to use ash when we wash our hands in order to prevent spread of diseases.”
END//
Region: Kenya, Horn of Africa
Theme(s): Migration, Health, Drought
The author is a health communications consultant. Follow her on Twitter [@msanyuosire] & keep tabs on tips she shares with health communications officers by "liking" my facebook page [Mary-Sanyu Osire].
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Food for thought ...
This morning, I was reading through a certain INGOs 2011-2015 national health strategy document, and stumbled upon this:
"Most countries in Africa continue to experience the loss of a sizeable number of highly skilled health professionals by their migration to developed countries.
The total cost of educating a single medical doctor from primary school to university is approximately US$ 65,997; and for every doctor who emigrates, a country loses about US$ 517,931 worth of returns from investment.
The total cost of educating one nurse from primary school to college of health sciences is $US 43, 180; and for every nurse that emigrates, a country loses about US$338,868 worth of returns from investment (Kirigia, 2006)."
"Most countries in Africa continue to experience the loss of a sizeable number of highly skilled health professionals by their migration to developed countries.
The total cost of educating a single medical doctor from primary school to university is approximately US$ 65,997; and for every doctor who emigrates, a country loses about US$ 517,931 worth of returns from investment.
The total cost of educating one nurse from primary school to college of health sciences is $US 43, 180; and for every nurse that emigrates, a country loses about US$338,868 worth of returns from investment (Kirigia, 2006)."
Sunday, August 28, 2011
An Aid Worker's Diary
I recently visited the largest refugee camp in the world on a Migration Health reporting assignment. Bottom line: I am persuaded that when it comes to health systems in displacement settings, "almost" does not count. We need comprehensive, equitable, convenient, migrant-friendly strategies that address the needs of EVERYONE - not a few, or the majority. To view my picture story, feed this URL into your browser:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marysanyuosire/6041608118/in/set-72157627430341760
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marysanyuosire/6041608118/in/set-72157627430341760
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