AMREF Fights Disease
The Issue
The numbers are sobering: Africa bears one-quarter of the world’s disease burden yet accounts for less than 1% of global health expenditure. Most of what little money is spent on health goes to treating diseases rather than preventing or tracking them. The result is a sticking-plaster solution to a chronic and very serious problem.
Africa’s health crisis is an issue of resources, but it’s also an issue of strategy. Even relatively minor illnesses such as diarrhoea and eye infections can have far-reaching economic and social effects. Adults miss work, children miss school, and communities grow poorer. Treatment ensures recovery, but only when combined with far-sighted prevention and surveillance strategies can it break the cycle of poverty and ill-health.
AMREF's Approach
When it comes to fighting disease in sub-Saharan Africa, context is everything. Informed by extensive research and fifty-two years of field work, our programmes are context-obsessed.
We build relationships with vulnerable communities and work hand-in-hand with health workers and government at all levels, tailoring our projects to community needs, monitoring every aspect and identifying what works best and what could work better. We export the best parts, adapting them to suit local contexts, and we learn from our mistakes.
Projects & Stories
Our Work Better Disease Management in Central Uganda
Our pilot integrated disease management programme in the Luwero and Kiboga districts of Uganda, a partnership with AstraZeneca, has made it much easier for people to be tested and treated for HIV, TB, and malaria co-infection — one of the deadliest and most overlooked problems in the region.
Our Work Protecting Mothers and Children from Malaria in Coastal Tanzania
Since 2007, the Mtwara Malaria Control Programme has distributed over 9,000 insecticide-treated bednets in the malaria-prone coastal region of Tanzania. Over 90% of young children, nearly 80% of mothers, and 50% of fathers now sleep under nets. Malaria deaths have dropped significantly among mothers and children as a result.
Our Work Water and Sanitation for Kenya's Largest Slum
Already a success in Kibera, where it has been adopted by the government, our Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education (PHASE) programme — a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline — has been adapted to a slum setting for the first time. Working with students, parents, teachers, and health authorities in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, we’ve significantly reduced the rate of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. As a result, school enrolment has risen and absenteeism dropped in every one of the participating schools.
Photo: Dan Chung/The Guardian