Please support our Stand Up for African Mother's campaign. Click here to learn more.

A Mother's story - Kechene slum, Ethiopia

Jane Wathome and the Management Development Institute 

Jane Wathome is an alumni of the Johnson & Johnson, UCLA and AMREF Management Development Institute (MDI). A program that aims to enhance the leadership and management skills of health care professionals working in organizations devoted to the care, treatment and support of people and families living with HIV in Africa. Hear from Jane about why the MDI program is so necessary and how it helped shape her organization into what it is today.

Intro to AMREF's work to bring better health to Africa

In 1957 three men came up with an idea that would revolutionize health care in Africa: the African Medical and Research Foundation. From its origin as a Flying Doctors service, AMREF has evolved into Africa's largest health organization.

AMREF - helping AIDS orphans to have a future

In Africa 13 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, hear from one of them. This young girl was given a grant by AMREF and has started an income generating project to support herself and her younger siblings who are going to a school supported by AMREF. In AMREF's Africa AIDS orphans have a future. 

An AMREF-trained health worker's story 

See the work done by Almaz Nagade, a health extension worker in Doiso, Ethiopia. She was trained by AMREF, and is now able to provide health education and basic, but vital pre- and post-natal care to her village of 6,700 people. It's a tough assignment in this hot and arid region. But Almaz is happy to travel miles of rugged terrain daily to visit the women in her community, knowing that they need her help to ensure safe deliveries and healthy newborns.  

On April 14, 2011 AMREF held its 2nd Annual Luncheon "Healthy Girls and Women = Health Africa" at the Plaza in New York City, NY. The luncheon is dedicated to improving the health of girls and women in Africa. Hear from AMREF Director General Dr. Teguest Guerma, and all of the award recipients: Abigail Disney, Eve Ensler, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Johnson & Johnson

No Health Workforce. No Health MDGs. Is that acceptable?

Panel discussion which addressed the critical question: “No health workforce. No health MDGs. Is that acceptable?” This UN MDG Summit side-event was organized by the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) in close partnership with the HWAI and its steering committee members, Physicians for Human Rights, Merlin, and AMREF. Panelists include Ministers of Health from both Malawi and Cameroon, the Director of Health from Norway. Michael Anderson, DFID's Director-General, Policy & Global Issues, Mr. Kiyoshi Kodera VP, JICA Japan, Moderated by Joia Mukherjee from Partners in Health (PIH).

AMREF's Dr. Peter Ngatia on Global Health TV

The Gates Award for Global Health has been giving a million dollar prize to outstanding global health organizations for a decade. In 2005 AMREF won the award. In this interview Dr. Peter Ngatia, Director of Capacity Building for AMREF, talks with Global Health TV's Chris Warner about what winning the award meant to AMREF and what we have achieved since then.

Pfizer Global Health Fellow works with AMREF in Kenya

Meet Regina McDonald, a Pfizer Global Health Fellow who worked with AMREF in Kenya. She analyzed and recommended improvements for documenting AMREF field programs across eastern Africa. Thanks to Regina's help, project reporting is more rigorously standardized, allowing AMREF field managers to more easily share lessons from each other's work.

Do you know? AMREF HIV/AIDS campaign

In an effort to combat the HIV Virus, it is important to get tested, and to know if you are potentially spreading it to others. This video is one of AMREF's efforts to educate people about the importance of getting themselves tested for HIV. Please feel free to forward this to anyone you may know. If we are to eradicate HIV/AIDS, we must work together!

Please support our Stand Up for African Mother's campaign. Click here to learn more.

AMREF Reiterates the Importance of Midwives in Delivering a Better World

Since its founding in 1957, AMREF has been devoted to addressing the health needs of the marginalized.  Although global progress continues to be made towards reducing maternal mortality by 75 percent by 2015, progress in sub-Saharan Africa remains slow, particularly among rural communities with the lowest access to health care, while in some countries maternal mortality rates have actually increased. In 2010, about 162 000 women died in this region during pregnancy and childbirth, representing 56 percent of the global total. In other words, five out of every 1000 mothers continue to die of pregnancy-related causes while another 150 develop serious long term, pregnancy-related complications. Over 80 percent of these deaths are a result of complications that could be taken care of in facilities with basic emergency obstetric care services.

This calls into sharp focus this year’s theme ‘The World Needs Midwives Now More Than Ever’. The World’s Midwifery (SOWMy) Report (2011) found that almost two thirds of maternal and newborn deaths could be averted and roughly about 3.6 million lives saved by 2015. These lives can only be saved if all women delivered with a competent, well-equipped midwife in a functional facility.

AMREF strongly believes that midwives are key in addressing maternal mortality. That is why AMREF’s Stand Up for African Mothers campaign aims to train 15,000 midwives across 13 countries in Africa by 2015.  One midwife can look after 500 mothers every year and safely deliver 100 babies.  This means over seven million African women each year will receive maternal care.

AMREF’s call as we mark the International Day of the Midwife is:

To African governments:

1. Accelerate implementation of Human Resources for Health (HRH) strategies to increase the number of midwives trained and upgraded in the country;
2. Fast track the attainment of MDG 5 in all countries where targets have not been achieved;
3. Deliver on commitments to increase health budgets to reach the 15 percent target of Abuja Declaration;
4. Adopt innovative mechanisms to support the training, recruitment, deployment and retention of midwives to ensure adequate production and distribution across rural and remote areas;
5. Ensure mechanisms of access to the UN Commission’s 13 lifesaving commodities for women and children, including long-term family planning methods and other commodities for reproductive health, are accessible to midwives to provide appropriate quality health services. 

To development partners:

1. Adopt and support innovative mechanisms for training, recruitment, deployment and retention of midwives in Africa;
2. Support the focus on Human Resources for Health within the post MDG priority setting processes, with a focus on midwives;
3. Treat MDG 5 as ‘unfinished business” and continue investment in midwifery training for improved maternal and child health.

AMREF is committed to training midwives to assist women in accessing health services including family planning, and will continue sensitizing governments, opinion leaders, policy makers and other key stakeholders on the critical issue of maternal deaths so they can take direct, strong and decisive actions and work towards long term solutions.

 >> CNN's African Voices meets Esther Madudu: This weekend, Esther Madudu, an AMREF-trained midwife and our nominee for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize will be featured on the show. 

 >> Read how one midwife, after being trained by AMREF, began helping other midwives to improve their skills.  

 >> Learn more about our work training midwives.

AMREF USA gladly accepts donations of stock and other securities. 

By making a gift of stock, you not only help improve the health of African families, but you can also receive the following benefits: 

• Avoid capital gains taxes
• Deduct the fair market value of your transferred stocks from your income
  
  
  

These benefits effectively decrease the cost to you and may allow you to make a greater contribution to a cause you care about.

Shares of stock may be delivered via electronic transfer or mail delivery.

For more information or to make a gift of stock:

• Please consult your financial advisor/attorney
• Contact Phil Perlah, Director of Finance, AMREF USA at (212) 768-2440

>> Click here to find out about other Planned Giving opportunities

Join Our Legacy Society 

 

A planned gift to AMREF USA is a simple, but lasting way to help us improve health, alleviate poverty and bring hope to many of the poorest families on the African continent. Join our Legacy Society to make a world of difference for generations to come!

Making a Bequest 

The simplest method of planned giving is to leave a bequest in your will. A bequest is a written intention that a certain amount of money or property will be given to AMREF USA at your passing. Bequests are not subject to estate tax, so 100% of the gift will go towards our work. 

A Bequest Can Mean Many Things: 

• A specific amount of money
• A piece of property
• A percentage of your estate
• The remainder of your estate after payment to others 
  
  

How Can I Set Up a Bequest?

Please contact your lawyer or life plan consultant for more information on bequests. Or call AMREF USA at (212) 768-2440.

The official legal bequest language for AMREF USA is: “I, [name], of [city, state, zip], give, devise and bequeath to AMREF USA, 4 West 43rd Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10036 [written amount or percentage of the estate or description of property] for its unrestricted use and purpose.” Our federal tax EIN is 13-1867411.

Life Insurance and Retirement Benefits Beneficiary Designation

Directing life insurance and and retirement benefits to AMREF USA does not require an amendment to your will.

Retirement Benefits: 

As a tax-exempt organization, AMREF USA can benefit from 100% of a gift, unlike a non-charitiable beneficiary who would be responsible for estate and income tax on your IRA. To guarantee your savings  go the furthest, designate AMREF USA as your retirement benefits beneficiary today.



Life Insurance:

To make AMREF USA a beneficiary of your life insurance proceeds upon your passing, simply ask your life insurance agent for a change of beneficiary designation form. 

As with a direct bequest, AMREF USA can be a beneficiary of a specific amount, a percentage or remainder of shares after other beneficiaries in both cases. 

On Friday, April 26, 2013, AMREF Kenya received an award for its contribution to improving maternal health (MDG 5) in Kenya. 

The award was given by the MDGs Trust Fund, an organization that acknowledges the contribution of NGOs, Development Partner Institutions, Private and Public sectors and individuals in Kenya that have demonstrated outstanding efforts in driving the achievement of the MDGs through their core programmes in partnership with UNDP Kenya, Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, Synovate and the Government of Finland.

In its third year, the annual Millennium Development Goals Award is as a mechanism for recognizing significant efforts that have been made by different institutions in advancing social change through various innovations in their different capacities hence achieving the MDGs.

 Read about other Awards AMREF has received 

The Maridi Girls’ Boarding School for Science was inaugurated last month in Maridi, in the Western Equatoria region of South Sudan. This school is the first one of its kind in the country, intended to encourage girls to excel in subjects geared towards careers in health and other science-related professions.

The school was set up by AMREF with funds from an Italian family in memory of their son, Michele Ricci, who died in a road accident. The school will address a pressing concern for AMREF - seeing more girls attain the necessary education to qualify for enrollment in health training institutions. At the Maridi National Health Training Institute, run by AMREF in collaboration with the Government of South Sudan, enrollment of women is very low, currently below 25 percent.

The Guest of Honor at the event was the Governor of Western Equatoria, Mr Joseph Bakasoro, who pledged the government’s support for the school. The first enrollment will be comprised of 50 students, 40 from the region and the rest from across the country.

Speaking on behalf of the family, the late Michele’s mother, Maria Rosa Torriglia, expressed her joy that the memories of their son will continue to live through all the girls who pass through the school.

AMREF launches project for youth, girls and women’s empowerment in Tanzania

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new AMREF project funded by USAID. The TUJUMUIKE Project in Mtwara and Lindi in southern Tanzania will develop and strengthen the skills of local self-help groups to support youth, girls and women’s empowerment.

Mtwara and Lindi have the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in all of Tanzania. According to the Tanzania Demographic Health Survey (2010), 44 percent of women were either mothers or pregnant with their first child by 19 years of age.

Mostly due to long-standing cultural norms, poverty and lack of education, girls and women are particularly marginalized in this area. Traditional practices such as early and forced marriages and sex initiation ceremonies put girls at high risk for early pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and HIV. This also results in gender inequities at home and in the community where girls drop out of school with no consequences, lack quality health services and struggle to attain any kind of financial independence.

AMREF’s new program will equip youth self-help groups with the skills and leadership to mobilize at least 10,000 young people (60 percent girls) to access sexual and reproductive health information and services over the two year duration of the project.

Read more about our work with girls and women.

Let me start off by welcoming you into the AMREF family and thanking you for supporting our vision of lasting health change in Africa. 

You can’t imagine how important your commitment is to the millions of people who benefit from our services in the over 30 African countries in which we operate. Take for instance, an AMREF-trained midwife, who can care for and provide health education to 500 mothers per year – and this is just one example of the type of work AMREF does and its far reaching impact. Please know that your efforts will make a difference.

We are so thankful and appreciative of the time and energy you are taking to help AMREF enable millions of Africans to take charge of their own health, and live healthier lives. From all of us at AMREF, we thank you for your commitment, passion and generosity.

Sincerely,

Executive Director, AMREF USA

FUNraiser Toolkit

(Click image to download)

Additional Resources
Besides our FUNraising Toolkit, downloadable by clicking on the above image, AMREF USA has a number of other resources to help you in your FUNraising efforts. Look to your right to the Resources tab, and download photos, sample forms, flyers and media files to help you carry out and report your FUNraising event.

Thank You!
AMREF truly appreciates the efforts of our FUNraising community towards advancing our mission of bettering health for African communities. Thank you once again for your generosity, enthusiasm and, dedication!

Contact Us
Feel free to email us at funraisers@amrefusa.org if you have any questions, need additional information/materials for your FUNraising event, or would like to share comments/suggestions. We’d love to hear from you!

AMREF USA

In 2012, AMREF successfully completed an eight-year program in Kenya, called “Maanisha” (Swahili: “to give meaning”) that slowed the spread of HIV/AIDS, and helped vulnerable individuals and communities already harmed by HIV/AIDS.

Solid Results

Starting in 2004, in Kenya’s Western, Nyanza, Rift Valley, and Eastern provinces, Maanisha reached nearly 4 million men, women, girls, and boys.  Specific results for vulnerable groups, like widows and youth, included safer sexual practices and enhanced gender equality.  People living with HIV received increased quality care, personal support, and treatment services.

Building Local Capacity

A key AMREF goal was building an effective, sustainable system of community organizations to control HIV/AIDS. We worked with almost a thousand service organizations, helping them to become better able to educate their communities on prevention, and to properly manage the HIV/AIDS caseloads. This resulted from improved coordination, increased management skills, more proficient and efficient service provision. Maanisha strengthened local capacity to meet the needs of communities with the fewest resources, and to mitigate the damage caused by HIV to local economies and social structures. 

AMREF is proud of its shared achievement: a sustainable, locally-run system, of individuals and organizations, to control HIV and strengthen local economies and vulnerable communities.

• Read more about our work at the community level in Africa
• Find out about other HIV/AIDS programs

Tuberculosis (TB) -- a preventable disease linked to poverty -- was declared an emergency in Africa in 2005.

Each year it claims the lives of half a million Africans, many young and in their most productive years.  In the past 15 years, Africa has seen overall rates double and triple in high HIV areas. 

Africa has the highest incidence of TB per capita in the world (28%), with many of the worst affected countries located in sub-Saharan Africa.

The most at risk include the urban poor, migrants, and refugees forced to live in overcrowded conditions.

Africa is the only continent where TB rates are increasing, with 1,500 TB deaths every day. Tragically and avoidably, 10% of these deaths are children.

TB is also a leading killer of HIV-positive people with severely weakened immune systems. About 200,000 people living with HIV/AIDS die from TB every year, most of them in Africa. Since 1990, HIV has been the single most important factor in the rising incidence of TB in Africa. Treating co-infected people is difficult as the drug therapies for each disease are hard to combine safely.

Dangerous, drug-resistant strains of TB have also now emerged. New strains occur because of inconsistent, incorrect treatments being given or because of unreliable drug supply. A key cause of drug resistance is not completing a course of treatment. 

• Multi-drug-resistant TB is resistant to the two most powerful anti-TB drugs
• Extensively drug-resistant TB is resistant to ‘second-line’ drugs and thus, extremely difficult to treat

How AMREF is tackling TB

Working alongside local communities, AMREF is training community-based health workers to raise awareness about how to prevent TB and diagnose it correctly. We are also advising people to be voluntarily tested as a preventive measure.

Because TB treatment is particularly complicated and prolonged, health workers are trained in Directly Observed Treatment Strategy (DOTS) – a method that ensures patients take their medication in the correct way.

Trained health workers raise awareness about hygiene (which will prevent the spread of TB) and about eating nutritious food – a strong immune system will help fight the disease. Patients in some areas are encouraged to plant vegetable gardens to improve their diets and provide exercise.

In South Africa, the Sakhisizwe TB Project has helped identify many more cases of HIV/TB co-infected patients, enabling them to get timely treatment. It has also improved the number of people completing their treatment properly and has boosted the rate of early detection.

<< Back to What we do

<< Back to Fight diseases

AMREF has been named among the top third of non-governmental organization (NGO) in the world by The Global Journal  – a magazine based in Geneva and New York that looks at global governance, issues and players.

That’s a significant improvement for AMREF, which moved 53 spots from last year’s rankings, the first year the Top 100 list was published. We are now listed as one of the top three Health NGOs in the World.

AMREF, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, was one of about 30 organizations from a developing country which made the 2013 list. The rest are based in the United States, the UK, Switzerland and other European countries.

This year, The Global Journal chose the 100 NGOs using three key criteria: impact; innovation; and, sustainability, all of which are central to AMREF’s approach to improving health in Africa.

Working with African communities to make lasting health change has been the foundation of our work since our founding more than 55 years ago. Sustainability is built into every project.

The Citation about AMREF reads:

In the last several years, we’ve been at the forefront of using technology and other innovative means to improve the health of people living in remote and rural areas where access to health care is a significant challenge. Once such example is AMREF’s electronic learning program which upgraded the skills of 7,000 nurses in Kenya; the project was particularly successful in training nurses working in smaller communities throughout the country.

The full list of the Top 100 NGOs (for purchase), and related stories, are available on a special report section of The Global Journal’s website. 

To just see the list, click here

Read about other AMREF Awards and recognitions 

More than 85% of Kenya’s 20,000 nurses are trained at certificate level but do not have registered nurses’ diplomas.  They are left inadequately qualified to treat major diseases, such as HIV, TB, and malaria.

Classroom-based training for the registered nurses’ diploma has been very limited, only 100 of the 20,000 nurses can qualify each year. This has left Kenya with just one registered nurse per 27,000 people.

To speed the process, AMREF and the Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK) have shifted the emphasis from traditional classroom based teaching to ‘paper-based’ distance learning and further to ‘eLearning’.

In partnership with the Kenyan Ministry of Health, Accenture (a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company), the Kenya Medical Training Colleges, and several private and faith-based nursing schools, AMREF and NCK are:

• Using E-learning to register nearly 20,000 Kenyan nurses
• Training AMREF and NCK staff to run and monitor the E-learning program
• Advocating for the E-learning program to be replicated in other African countries

Main objectives of the project

AMREF, NCK, and Accenture have developed four computer-based training modules to be delivered through more than 100 E-learning centers – reaching nurses in the most remote areas of Kenya. Twenty-five nursing schools are also taking part in the program. To date, more than 12,000 nurses have enrolled in the program and use both print and eLearning modules.

Unlike traditional training, the E-learning program is flexible and enables students to learn anytime and anywhere, without the need to stop working as they upgrade their skills.

AMREF staff and local partners are fully trained to manage and further expand the program regionally. AMREF will use the program as a model for other African countries struggling with critical nursing shortages.

According to Dr. Peter Ngatia, Director of Capacity Building for AMREF, "This program is not only going to drastically improve the health care of Kenya, it is also going to be emulated by other countries – and the impact on Africa's health system will be enormous."

The Registrar of the Nursing Council of Kenya states, “We are proud of the E-learning program as nurse managers are reporting an improvement in the quality of nursing care. With improved nursing care, we are confident of our contribution in steering our country towards meeting the health related Millennium development goals.”

Key achievements

• Accenture has fully equipped nurses with the IT and management skills needed to expand and run the program long-term.
• The education process has been revolutionized by harnessing computer-based learning to boost Kenya's medical training capacity.
• A Virtual Nursing School has been set up at AMREF to test and document the implementation of an eLearning solution in strengthening the human resources for health in a low-income, resource constrained environment.

           << eLearning program expands to Uganda

<< Back to Where we work

<< Back to Our Work in Kenya

May 24th, 2012
In Memory of Nan Rees 

May 4th, 2012
International Day of the Midwife 2012: Stand Up for African Mothers

April 25th, 2012
Celebrate World Malaria Day 2012

April 24th 2012
AMREF Receives the World Federation of Public Health Associations 2012 Organizational Award

March 23rd, 2012
World TB Day: Let's Ensure Sustainable Funding for TB in Africa 

March 22nd, 2012
AMREF Celebrates World Water Day 2012

February 7th, 2012
“Better Health for West Africa”: AMREF Opens Office in Senegal

January 26th, 2012
Digging a Well Leads to Much More than Just Water

January 16th, 2012
AMREF family is extremely sad to announce the death of Dr. Alemayehu Seifu

November 29th, 2011
AMREF Wins the Khadil Award for Excellence in Medical Laboratory Service

November 8th, 2011
AMREF Flying Doctors wins Air Ambulance Provider of the Year Award

October 12th, 2011
Passionate Ugandan midwife takes her message abroad with AMREF

October 3rd, 2011
Charity Navigator awards AMREF with seventh straight 4-star rating

September 23rd, 2011
Hunger and Malnutrion Stalk Nairobi's Urban Poor

September 22nd, 2011
Update on Fuel Explosion in Kenya

September 18th, 2011
AMREF's Commitment to Better Maternal Health in Africa

September 13th, 2011
AMREF Aids Victims of Fuel Explosion in Kenyan Slum

August 16th, 2011
AMREF hosts U.S. Hill Staffers on visit to Kenya

August 15th, 2011
Drought Update from Turkana, Kenya by Dr. Lennie Bazira, Director of AMREF Kenya

July 29th, 2011
Wajir - Bearing the Brunt of the Drought in Northern Kenya

July 25th, 2011
Update on AMREF's response to the drought and resulting famine

July 19th, 2011
AMREF issues statement about the current crisis in the Horn of Africa.

July 13th, 2011
AMREF Surgeon Elected as President of PAACLIP

July 5th, 2011
A New Dawn for the people of the Republic of South Sudan and the Birth of Africa's Newest Nation.

July 4th, 2011
Learn the facts and figures about health in South Sudan and AMREF's work in Africa's newest nation.

June 9th, 2011
World leaders launch plan to eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015. 

May 17th, 2011
Kenyan sets new record running for AMREF's maternal health campaign

May 6th, 2011
AMREF urges caution over new AIDS vaccine trials

April 25th, 2011
Celebrating World Malaria Day with an eye on progress and impact

April 13th, 2011
AMREF announces partnership with Open University to train 250,000 health workers

March 8th, 2011
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. 

February 23rd, 2011
Maternal Death - A lethal enemy waiting to snatch its next victim. 

February 17th, 2011
Australian envoy visits AMREF Headquarters. 

February 15th, 2011
Health in Southern Sudan: Your Questions Answered.

January 21st, 2011
AMREF will play a key role in the Second Global Forum on Human Resources for Health which starts January 25th, in Bangkok, Thailand.

January 18th, 2011
In advance of the Second Global Forum on Human Resources for Health Sarah Boseley of the Guardian has written this article, “The health worker shortage is a truly global crisis”.

January 09th, 2011
Southern Sudan heads to the polls to vote in a referendum on whether or not to separate from the North. Read about AMREF's long history working in Southern Sudan.

January 01st, 2010
Please support AMREF USA by participating in Movie For a Cause. If you purchase a copy of the film Poliwood you will receive a significant discount and AMREF gets a portion of the proceeds.
 

December 15th, 2010
UNTV’s Andrew Martin reports on how a computer, scanner and digital camera transforms the lives of patients at a local clinic in Kenya.

December 12th, 2010
AMREF’s Dr. Peter Ngatia Receives Award (the Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear) from Kenyan head of state, President Mwai Kibaki.

December 1st, 2010
AMREF's Director General interviewed about HIV issues in Africa.

December 1st, 2010
Africa.com blogs about some of AMREF's activities increasing awarness around HIV and AIDS in Africa.
 

December 1st, 2010
World AIDS Day 2010: Universal Access and Human Rights.
 

November 12th, 2010
AMREF Presents papers and participates in multiple elearning and mhealth summits in early November. 

November 7th, 2010
Two AMREF supporters run the NYC Marathon and raise about $13,000 for AMREF's health development programs in Africa. 

November 2nd, 2010
Today the Guardian's involvement in our Katine project officially comes to a close. Please click here to read the multitude of coverage this project is receiving. 

October 14th, 2010
AMREF USA receives coveted 4 star rating from Charity Navigator for sound fiscal management - for the SIXTH year in a row! 

October 11th, 2010
AMREF part of a team of top health players meeting in Nairobi for key African meeting on Human Resources for Health sector.
 

September 20th, 2010
AMREF cited by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) in his remarks about the 'water for the poor' bill as it passed the Senate 

August 2nd, 2010
WHO representative visits AMREF headquarters


July 22nd, 2010
Showcasing AMREF at the Vienna AIDS conference


July 22nd, 2010
Uganda's Minister of Health commends AMREF's second response team to the Kampala bombings


July 20th, 2010
Don't stop now, donors and governments urged


July 20th, 2010
We risk reversing all the gains made in HIV interventions, warns AMREF


July 19th, 2010
AMREF's message to leaders at the African Union Summit


July 16th, 2010
AMREF steps in to provide emergency support to Uganda bombing victims

July 9th, 2010
AMREF scoops two international awards for its work in health development 

June 28th, 2010
AMREF cautiously welcomes new G8 funding for maternal and child health in Africa 

June 25th, 2010
AMREF stands up for African mothers as G8 and G20 leaders arrive in Canada 

June 25th, 2010
A way forward to achieving the health Millennium Development Goals in Africa - G8 2010

June 4th, 2010
AMREF Photos Win Top Honours at CNN Awards

April 23rd, 2010
AMREF, UCLA and Johnson & Johnson launch eLearning course for National AIDS Control Council

Christina Casey has over 20 years of human resources experience. In the paper industry, she has worked for Boise Cascade, Specialty Paperboard and Rock-Tenn Company. Most recently, she was head of Human Resources for Chelsea Property Group, a real estate development and management firm.

In 2004, Ms. Casey created the Mary Cooney and Edward Essl Foundation in honor of her late parents. The Foundation focuses on international development, mental health research and the welfare of children and animals. She received her BA in Sociology from Villanova University, and her MSS from the Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

Ms. Casey has been involved with AMREF USA since 2005, and was elected to its Board in November 2012. She resides in Glen Ridge, NJ.

Read More About AMREF 

USAID, through the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA), has provided $400,000 for the expansion of our training facility. Additional funding through AMREF USA, AMREF Germany and AMREF Austria will ensure completion of the annex, which will have a total of 1,150 square meters of floor space and will accomodate over 200 additional students. The annex will consist of classrooms, lecture theaters and an eLearning center.

sub-Saharan Africa continues to grapple with the burden of preventable and treatable diseases that cause unneccessary death due to a shortage of health workers.  According to the World Health Organisation, Africa has a shortage of approximately 800,000 health workers including physicians, nurses, midwives and community health workers.  One of the major causes of the shortage is the lack of adequate training infrastructure.

AMREF International Training Centre has since 1987 contributed to increasing the numbers of skilled health workers in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond by offering a wide range of training programmes for mid-level tosenior level health workers. In recent years, there has been increased demand by governments and health professionals for technical, leadership and governance training courses. 

In response, AMREF has introduced additional programs such as Masters in Public Health in collaboration with Moi University; Bachelor of Science in Nursing in collaboration with the University of Nairobi; Bachelor of Science in Community Health the  Kenya Methodist University;  an e-learning upgrading programme for nurses in Kenya; the Management Development Institute in collaboration with University of California in Los Angeles; Gender in Health and Development; and Health Systems Research and Strategic Leadership and Management.

ASHA has continously supported AMREF in development of infrastructure to improve skills and knowledge of health workers. This includes  construction and equipping of the Michael Wood Clinical Laboratory; equipping and furnishing of the AMREF International Training Centre; equipping and furnishing of the AMREF Tanzania laboratory and Resource Centre; construction of classrooms, dormitories and a dinning hall at the National Health Training Institute in South Sudan as well as renovation of staff quarters at the school.

 > Click here to read more about our work training health workers across Africa 

George Ojor lost his father to war, and his older brother, who stepped in to care for him, died of AIDS when George was still a child. He was, in effect, orphaned twice — all too common for Ugandan youth in the 80s and 90s as war and HIV spread havoc.

Fortunately for George, when he was 12, AMREF started a project in the Luweero district of Uganda, which he was able to turn to.

AMREF is active in many areas where vulnerable children like George live. We helped him — and so many others — with school fees, books, uniforms, and a way to earn spending money by tending pigs and cows. George emerged from schooling and training able to support himself and lead a successful life.

George used his training to become a welder. Over the years, he opened his own welding shop and hardware store. 

George is also helping other orphans to succeed — teaching them technical skills, for a fraction of the cost and time required in other schools.

One of George's employees in front of the welding shop

At the heart of all our efforts is our profound belief in the immense transformative power within African communities. We work through local partnerships and collaborations — as in Luweero — fostering sustainable solutions to major health problems, and strengthening local and individual initiative.

George’s training classes for orphans are very effective. He enables them to get paying work, and even employs five of his “graduates” in his own shop.

George could have been another lost orphan. Instead, he has created a life for himself - saying “I feel good because where I am now is because of AMREF and my own hard work.” 

For George, the future looks bright. His plans include expanding his hardware store and continuing to offer skills training for other orphans and vulnerable children.

This story was collected in April, 2012 – Twenty-one years after George Ojor first benefitted from an AMREF program. 

  > Read more about our work in Uganda

  > Help us provide support so that more vulnerable children can succeed like George 

 2012 Holiday Wishlist

 
Click on this image to watch a video from Mena Suvari, our Goodwill Ambassador.
Find out what she is getting her mom for the holidays.

Below, please find more ways to give the perfect gift for your family, friends and colleagues this holiday season - health to millions of Africans.

$1,500 can bring safe drinking water to a community. $1,500 can secure a permanent water supply for a small community to prevent devastating water-borne illnesses such as cholera, typhoid, malaria and yellow fever. Safe drinking water is more crucial than ever in light of the recent East African drought. Donate now
$250 can provide basic training for a community midwife. **Mena's favorite gift** An AMREF-trained community midwife can recognize and treat common illnesses, refer women to the hospital during complicated births, and educate HIV positive mothers about mother-to-child transmission. Community midwives save the lives of mothers and their newborns. Donate now
$100 can help prevent malaria. 90% of malaria-related deaths occur in Africa. AMREF works to prevent these deaths by providing insecticide-treated mosquito nets to protect families from malaria. By donating $100, you can protect 10 families. Donate now
$65 can purchase a bicycle. Bicycles help community health workers move from village to village, taking crucial health advice to remote places and following up with patients to make sure they are getting better. A bicycle can also be utilized to bring patients from rural areas to clinics and hospitals. Bicycles are critical in places where there is little or no transport. Donate now
‪ $35 can give a community control over their own health. $35 is the average cost of forming and training a "community health team." These teams are made up of community members who work with AMREF to implement our health projects. This system creates sustainable health systems by ensuring that projects last far beyond AMREF's involvement. Donate now

Make your gift securely online or over the phone at 212-768-2440.   

AMREF Calls for Integration of Services and Greater Focus on Men

World AIDS Day, marked each year on December 1st, brings the world together to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and demonstrate international solidarity in the face of the pandemic. 

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region worst affected by HIV. As reported by WHO/UNAIDS/UNICEF in 2011, Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa in particular, is disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. It is home to 12% of the world’s population and to 68% of the world’s HIV-infected population, 60% of which are women. Africa is also home to more than 90% of the world’s HIV-infected children. In 2011, an estimated 1.7 million people were newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, among which approximately 300,000 were children. 

The HIV/AIDS burden places huge stress on health and other services in a continent that has been severely affected by war, disease and poor governance. As Africa’s leading health development organization working within communities, AMREF is committed to the global goal of ‘zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths’. Achieving this ‘Goal Zero’ means many biological, demographic, social and political challenges that need to be addressed in a timely and appropriate manner. Only one third of the 15 million people living with HIV and in need of life-long treatment are receiving it. New infections continue to outpace the number of people starting treatment, while the previous upward trend in financial resources has suffered a serious downturn. The road to this ‘Goal Zero’ will therefore require a tremendous multi-sectoral, coordinated, resourced, evidence-based effort with strong leadership. 

On World AIDS Day 2012, AMREF calls for greater focus and action in the following three areas:

1. Increased HIV Testing and Counselling for men
   Population-based surveys conducted in selected low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa show that more women than men report having an HIV test and starting on anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Hence, AMREF advocates expansion of innovative methods such as couple and family HIV Testing and Counseling to increase testing of men, as well as access and adherence to ART.


2. Integration of TB/HIV with Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Services
   Though a lot of countries are advocating the integration of TB and HIV with Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) services, implementation is still weak, especially in ensuring that TB patients who test positive for HIV are started on ART. Furthermore, there are not many clear guidelines or policies on integration of TB with MNCH. AMREF strongly advocates integration of TB and HIV with existing MNCH services across the board. In partnership with the World Health Organization, AMREF is developing an integration model using MNCH service as an entry point for provision of Provider-Initiated Testing and Counseling, Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission, TB-Directly Observed Treatment Short course, Family Planning and Sexually Transmitted Infection services. Integrated approaches aim at providing all services in one stop, thus increasing coverage, reducing the number of visits and maximizing on the use of limited human and financial resources. 



3. Resource Mobilization for Provision of Treatment
   Although tremendous effort has been made to avert the spread of HIV/AIDS, the pandemic remains a long-term global challenge. While incidences of global HIV/AIDS are declining, rates of new infections remain very high in many sub-Saharan African countries. Gains are threatened by a decline in resources available for HIV prevention and treatment in low- and middle-income countries. Funding for treatment will soon become a challenge as the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which has facilitated availability of cheap antiretroviral drugs, expires in 2016. To tackle the funding problem AMREF calls upon national governments, Civil Society Organizations, Faith-Based Organizations and other relevant institutions to push for the agreement beyond 2016.  AMREF also strongly urges African governments to include ART financing in their respective national budgets. 

AMREF will continue to empower communities in finding sustainable solutions to ensure that there is lasting health change in Africa. 

Dr Abebe Aberra,
AMREF Program Lead, HIV/AIDS/TB 

Read more about our work in HIV/AIDS 

Founder
   Thomas D. Rees, MD, Advisory Board Member & Chairman    Emeritus

Board of Directors
   Ned W. Bandler 
   Christina M. Casey, Secretary
   Rodney Davis, MD, FACS
   Hensley Evans
   Christine L. Grogan
   Carol Jenkins
   William H. MacArthur, Treasurer
   Inosi M. Nyatta, Vice-Chair
   Nyagaka Ongeri
   Joseph E. Pegues, Jr.
   Sarah Elizabeth Rees
   Timothy S. Wilson, Chair
   Lisa K. Meadowcroft, Executive Director, Ex-Officio
   Teguest Guerma, Director General, Ex-Officio

AMREF's Position on Abortion

AMREF's Position on Community Health Workers

AMREF's Position on Female Genital Mutilation

AMREFs Position on Men Having Sex with Men 

AMREF's Position on Task Shifting

AMREF's Position on Traditional Birth Attendants 

July 19th, 2012 - AMREF Launches Stand Up for African Mothers Campaign in the USA. Read about and view pictures from the event

March 8th, 2012 - Field Call from Kenya with Dr. Meshack Ndirangu - Read about and listen to the event here

January 12th, 2012 - Briefing Call with Dr. Peter Ngatia - Read about and listen to the event here

2011

October 27th, 2011 - Flying Doctors event in New York City with Dr. Asrat Mengiste - Read about the event and view photos here 

April 14th, 2011 - HEALTHYGIRLSANDWOMEN=HEALTHYAFRICA - Read about the event and view photos here

January 12th, 2011 - AMREF event in San Francisco with Dr. Dean & Anne Ornish Read about the event and view photos here

2010

November 9th, 2010 - AMREF event in New York City with Dr. Peter Ngatia Read about the event and view photos here

April 14th, 2010 - HEALTHYGIRLSANDWOMEN=HEALTHYAFRICA - Read about the event and view photos here