Lasting health change : Access to health research for Africa’s health workers

Open Access Africa 2011 Access to Health Research for Africa’s Health Workers Presented by: Dr. John Nduba African Medical and Research Foundation Lasting Health Change in Africa OCTOBER 2011

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 Management Information Systems R E S E A R C H PO L I CY 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

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 Information
Currently 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 services
FUTURE 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_address] to subscribe
Online c ase presentation and experience sharing discussion forum

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 Headquarters PO Box 27691 Nairobi 00506 Kenya Ph: +254 20 699 3000 Website: www.amref.org Email: john.nduba@amref.org ? ? ?

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