lasting health change : access to health research for africa’s health workers

Open Access Africa 2011Access to Health Research for

Africa’s Health Workers

Presented by: Dr. John NdubaAfrican Medical and Research

FoundationLasting Health Change in Africa

OCTOBER 2011

Click to edit Master title style

© AMREF l African Medical and Research Foundation 2011 2

AFRICAN MEDICAL AND RESEARCH FOUNDATION (AMREF)

• Is an international African Non-governmental organization (NGO) with a total focus on lasting health change in Africa

• AMREF was founded in Kenya in 1957, initially to provide specialist medical outreach services to remote communities in East Africa

• Has since grown to a major community health development organization with Programme offices in 7 African countries and direct reach through training, partnerships and consultancy in 33 other African countries

• AMREF focuses on grassroots causes of ill-health in communities and supporting health systems change to address health needs – this is summarized in the next slide



Target Groups

Women, Mothers, neonates and children

Children under 5

Adolescents

Training / task- shifting health workers

Surgical outreach / laboratory services

Strengthened community-based organisations

Supporting community water /sanitation systems

Behaviour change communication

Health Systems

Strengthening Building

Blocks

Community Systems

Strengthening

Supporting infrastructure

Use health information for planning and programming

Implementation

Human Resources for Health

Health Manageme

ntInformatio

n Systems

RESEARCH POLICY CHANGE

Link community information with Ministry of Health information systems



AFRICAN MEDICAL AND RESEARCH FOUNDATION (AMREF)

AMREF focuses on three broad health system approaches:• Capacity building for community and health systems

including development and support to community health workers

• Improving health information• Human resources for health, particularly regarding the

issues of health worker numbers and skills, training approaches including task shifting, and deployment and retention

The nest slide summarizes target groups and entry points into implementation of these approaches through AMREf’s newly developed business plan covering the next 3 years. Access to information and research findings for health workers is crucial for achievement of AMREF’s objectives



Challenges in Accessing Research

What challenges do health workers have in accessing

relevant research?

• Low investment in research within the continent

• Lack of infrastructure for accessing research online

• In appropriate platforms to share research

• Cost of accessing research (in print or online)



AMREFs Response

• AMREF Resource Centres• AMREF’s KnowledgeHub• AMREF eLearning

Programme

The AMREF Resource Centre



AMREF Resource Centres

• Established in 1980– A central place to provide AMREF staff with

information.– Collections mainly in print (Books and Journals).– Limited information services e.g. Dialup Internet

Access• Upgraded the Resource Centre • Unlimited Access to the Internet since year 2001• Access to Online Resources (Over 13,500 eJournals,

eBooks)• Enabled by development partners such as WHO,

INASP and main publishers in Europe & USA• Opened services to other institutions and the general

public• 2002 Opened Resource Centre to other institutions &

general public




• Establishment of Resource Centres AMREF Country Programmes- AMREF Maridi South Sudan- AMREF Juba, South Sudan- AMREF Tanzania- AMREF Uganda

• All Resource Centres have e-Centres

• Provide a platform to share AMREF experiences

• Provide access to online resource




THE DIGITAL RESOURCE CENTRE Aims:• To manage knowledge generated & documented from AMREF• To enable sharing of AMREF’s knowledge Internally &

externally• To further extend access to Online resources for health

workers

Databases:• Articles published by AMREF staff (Bibliographic)• AMREF publications (Full Text)• Grey & published literature mainly tropical health

(Bibliographic)• Books and videos Database (Bibliographic)• Image Gallery

• Data entry from all Resource Centres



Other Methods of Knowledge Sharing

Other Methods of Knowledge Sharing:

• Monthly e-Bulletin• ‘Ask the Librarian’ Service• Selective Dissemination of

InformationCurrently collaborating with:• Dundee University, UK• Mancosa, College, South Africa• St Lawrence University, USA• Tulane University, USA

Benefits:• Improved materials collection• Sharing experiences




RESULTS• AMREF’s Knowledge available and accessible from

one central location• Faster & effective decision making within the

organisation• Sharing of knowledge internally and externally

practical• Motivates staff to share more• Creates demand for servicesFUTURE PLANS• Make more use of Internet to reach more targets • Use of Web Based Portals• Establish more Resource Centres in AMREF Country Offices

including Ethiopia, South Africa, South Sudan

ART KnowledgeHub



ART KnowledgeHub

PROJECT BACKGROUND• The Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Knowledge Hub

seeks to ensure quality service is provided to PLWHAs

• Concept after the “3by5” strategy (treating 3M by 2005) by WHO

• Key obstacles to the achievement of the this WHO strategy (ART scale up) which was chronic shortage of trained human resource for health.



ART KnowledgeHub

PROJECT OBJECTIVES• Train the necessary health

workforce (with Ministries of Health) for the scale up ART Services

• To provide HCWs with easy access to online knowledge resources and most current guidelines and research on the care and treatment of HIV/AIDS to reinforce acquisition of knowledge and skills (capacity building) and promote delivery of quality services to patients



ART Knowledge Hub

Knowledge Dissemination Services

• The Hub employs several ways to disseminate much needed information on treatment and care of PLWHAs.– Physical ART Information hub –

walk in service (located at the AMREF Resource Centre)

– Information request service (for registered Resource centre members)

– Website/ web portal – http://hub.amref.org

– Monthly eBulletin – send an email to [email protected] to subscribe

– Online case presentation and experience sharing discussion forum

http://hub.amref.org/

mailto:[email protected]



How the ART eForum Looks



How the ART eBulletin Looks

eLearning @ AMREF



AMREFs eLearning Programme

Health services cannot function without sufficient numbers of skilled, motivated

and supported health workers.

• AMREF is training health workers in close to 40 African countries using various modes of training including eLearning.

• The goal of AMREFs eLearning programme is to cost-effectively expand access to quality training for health workers across sub-Saharan Africa.

• The programme began as a pilot in 4 schools in Kenya in 2005 and has expanded to national programmes in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania supported by the respective Ministries of Health



AMREFs eLearning Programme

• The eLearning programme provides continuing professional development (CPD) as well as diploma courses to health workers.

• The courses focus on both technical and soft skills• Students can access the courses in several ways

including:– CDROM– The network of 110 eLearning Centres located

in health facilities across Kenya– Online (via PC or mobile phone)– Mobile learning (mobile phone)



Accessing eLearning @ AMREF

• Students can access the courses in several ways:



Conclusion

• This quick overview shows some of the ways in which AMREF is helping respond to the information challenges facing African health workers and systems

• Use of emerging information and innovations have a huge role to play in improving health and health systems in Africa, but tools alone cannot do it – the content needs to be developed and made available

• Publishing and making information available to Africa’s health workers and practitioners is an urgent issue for the improvement of health services delivery in Africa

• AMREF has the base to become a valued partner in Open Access and making local knowledge widely available to those who need it most

For further information:

AMREF HeadquartersPO Box 27691Nairobi 00506KenyaPh: +254 20 699 3000Website: www.amref.orgEmail: [email protected]

lasting health change : access to health research for africa’s health workers

Education

health research

africa amref

health needs

amref experiences

research foundationamref

community health workers

african countries amref

health workers databases