4th July, 2011
AMREF and UNICEF form partnership
AMREF and UNICEF signed a Memorandum of Understanding at AMREF Headquarters in June 2010. It spells out several areas of collaboration between the two organisations, including promotion of vaccination of children and women; training of health workers involved in management of maternal, newborn and childhood illnesses, elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and research to improve public health approaches.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between UNICEF's Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa and AMREF’s Director General Dr Teguest Guerma. Other areas of collaboration are gender mainstreaming, equity and advocacy for women’s and children’s rights, programming for water, sanitation and hygiene, evaluation of projects and resource mobilisation.
Click on the image to view a slideshow of the MOU signing ceremony
Dr Guerma described the MOU as timely, as AMREF is reorganising itself and working to position itself as a leading organisation working in health.
AMREF considers it important to work with other organisations in areas of mutual interest in order to develop a common position on Africa’s position on global health issues - DG Teguest Guerma.
For the next three years, AMREF is focusing on the health of women and children, Dr Guerma said, and expressed confidence that the collaboration with UNICEF would go a long way towards making a difference in the health of African communities.
Commenting on the new partnership, Elhadj Sy said that UNICEF was committed to making a difference in the lives of communities but needed partners like AMREF in order to do this effectively.
“We work in the area of policy and practice, but we need to work with others on the ground to determine what those policies and practices should be, and whether they work. If we are to meet the Millennium Development Goals, it is important that we reach the poorest and most isolated. This MOU with AMREF will enable us to do that because AMREF has a presence in these communities.”
AMREF’s Head of Programme Management, Mette Kjaer, explains that the MOU gives AMREF greater potential to scale up activities and a wider scope for operation than it would have been able to reach on its own. It points to AMREF’s credibility and therefore opens doors for collaboration with more UN bodies and other organisations. The partnership also gives AMREF an important platform for influencing policy and practice at a global level on issues relating to community health, and especially the health of women and children.
Find out more about AMREF's work with mothers and children