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Welcome from Andy Leather, Director of King’s Global Health Partnerships
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Since the summer newsletter much has happened. Laura Hucks left her role as Director of KGHP in July, after making a massive contribution to KGHP over four years. In many ways she professionalised KGHP, and she did it in such an effective way. We are so thankful to Laura and wish her well in her new senior role at the Fleming Fund.
I am stepping into the Director of KGHP role, and we have appointed to a new post of Head of Programmes. This week we welcomed Piera Freccero to this role. Piera has been the Director of Programmes at World Child Cancer, for the last six years and has 18 years’ experience within multiple NGOs in the international development sector.
In our 10-year strategy we spoke about the mutual benefit to the UK of our work, and this is well illustrated in this newsletter by two MSc Global Health students who undertook their research projects on cancer services at Ndola. They gained so much from their time in Ndola and were supported brilliantly by our Zambian colleagues.
We often speak about our desire to support work at an individual, institutional, and national level. A brilliant example of this multi-level working is illustrated in the current National Quality Improvement programme of work in Somaliland that you will read about. It is a privilege to work so collaboratively with the Ministry of Health and Development on this national quality initiative, while also working with all six regional hospitals and many individual healthcare workers.
Undertaking collaborative research and building research capacity in partner countries (and in the UK) is a core component of our partnership work. This research should aim to inform policy and practice. The piece on the new stroke unit at Connaught Hospital demonstrates just how impactful research can be – the longstanding stroke research, led to the development of the country’s first stroke unit, which one year on, is enabling a reduction in stroke mortality at the hospital.
Lastly, none of this would be possible without our professional volunteers and our partners in our five countries. Professor John Rees has made such a profound contribution to the medical faculties in Somaliland, and it was so fitting that John was recently recognised with the Hargeisa University 2023 award.
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Latest News from our Health Partnerships
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New stroke unit sees reduction in stroke mortality at Connaught Hospital, Sierra Leone
We recently celebrated the one year anniversary of Connaught Hospital's new stroke unit, which was opened following recommendations from the Stroke in Sierra Leone (SISLE) research project, conducted by King's and the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences in Freetown. Recent audit data analysed from the stroke unit since it opened, has shown the positive results that improved stroke care has had on patient outcomes.
Read more here
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King's students work with the Zambian government to develop breast and cervical cancer services
Global Health MSc students, Sang Hee Cho and Moira Hegyi undertook their dissertation research with our Zambian healthcare partners, to identify gaps and areas for improvement in breast and cervical cancer services at Ndola Teaching Hospital. The research will inform the government's plans to decentralise cancer services and develop regional, comprehensive cancer centres in Ndola and Livingstone.
Read more here
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"Nursing for Welbodi:" Building nursing care in Sierra Leone
We recently completed a three-year programme of work to help build nursing care and improve outcomes for critically unwell patients, by strengthening nursing education in Sierra Leone. With funding from the Burdett Trust and King’s College Hospital Nurses’ League, KGHP and the nursing leadership at Connaught Hospital worked together to develop a Nursing Education team, embedding continual professional development and a culture of learning into the daily lives of nurses.
Read more about the project and Watch a short video here
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Patient Safety and Infection Prevention Control for Better Healthcare
In July, we held a five-day training workshop with over 30 hospital staff from Somaliland's six regional hospitals to deliver the World Health Organisation's "Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Framework" and the "Infection and Prevention Control Framework." Rolling out these fundamental frameworks is part of a national programme to improve the quality of care that patients receive across the health system.
Read more here
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Good healthcare data improves the quality of care: the DRC experience
Good data informs treatment protocols for patients, supports healthcare decision making and is essential for policy development. Read how we are working with our health partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo to improve surgical data collection, management and use.
Read more here
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Current Volunteering Opportunities
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We are recruiting for the following volunteer posts:
Trauma Registry Implementation Volunteers, Democratic Republic of the Congo (remote support)
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Meet the People behind the Partnerships
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Many congratulations to Professor John Rees, a long-term volunteer with King’s Somaliland Partnership. His incredible contribution to the medical faculties in Somaliland was recently recognised with the Hargeisa University 2023 Award.
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Help us to continue our work
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If you would like to donate to the partnerships, please consider supporting us with a one-off or regular donation.
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