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Welcome from Andy Leather, Director of King’s Global Health Partnerships
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The last 12 months have flown past but what a significant year it has been for our partners, our NHS volunteers, our King's College London academic colleagues, our programmes, and our staff.
We continue to be inspired as we work alongside our partners – Ministry of Health leaders, staff within health facilities (primary, secondary and tertiary level), district health management teams, professional associations, health regulators and academic and administrative staff within universities. The voices of our inspiring partners comes across so powerfully in the Safe Surgery in DRC film and the National Quality Improvement Programme in Somaliland film.
We simply could not do the work without our highly skilled NHS volunteers who come mainly from King’s Health Partners NHS Trusts but also the wider NHS. The features on our FCDO-funded Sierra Leone Fellows and the Antimicrobial Stewardship article, written by another Sierra Leone Fellow, speak to this extraordinary contribution from NHS volunteers. It has been very exciting to collaborate more effectively with academic colleagues and this year Dr Chris Willott was awarded funding from the NIHR for a mental health research programme in Somaliland. The KGHP team continue to make significant contributions to King’s education – teaching on a health systems strengthening MSc module that I launched in September with Professor Lara Fairall, and facilitating 15 MSc and MPH students with dissertation work linked to our programmes over 2024-5.
We have also seen a significant addition to our programmes with our new cross-partnership work in postgraduate medical education funded by CRI - much more on that in the next newsletter! And what news about our staff? There have been some farewells, with a special call out for Piera Freccero who left as our Head of Programmes in September and Dr Cathy Read, Partnership Lead for Somaliland, who retired in December. We thank Cathy for her incredible contribution to the King's Somaliland Partnership over the past 8 years. We have had many wonderful additions to the team and welcomed Samia Khatun as the new Head of Programmes in October. Although only in her fourth month, Samia has already made a significant contribution. Learn more about Samia in the People behind the Partnerships below.
Finally, we are working in increasingly challenging times in global health, with the recent cuts to USAID funding; US withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO); and the UK government’s decision this week to cut the UK aid budget to 0.3% of GNI. You can read KGHP’s official response to the UK aid cuts in this newsletter. Despite much that is negative in our world, we should stand our ground, hold up our heads, and continue to celebrate all that is positive and affirming within our health partnerships. We are learning from each other, we are strengthening health systems and we are making the world a little less polarised. These things are worth treasuring.
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Latest News from our Health Partnerships
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King's Global Health Partnerships Launches Fellowship Programme in Sierra Leone
Last year, we introduced an exciting Fellowship programme aimed at improving maternal, child and reproductive health outcomes in Sierra Leone. Fellows from across King’s Health Partners, and the wider NHS, are helping to deliver a Clinical Mentorship programme, equipping healthcare professionals in Sierra Leone with vital skills and knowledge.
Read more about the Fellowship programme and how to get involved
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Safe Surgery Saves Lives
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo we have been working with the provincial and national Ministry of Health, as well as frontline clinicians, to improve the quality of surgical care. In this short film we showcase some of the work that has taken place over the past two years and the remaining challenges. We are delighted to have recently launched a second phase of the Safe Surgery programme which aims to reduce surgical site infection in two target facilities.
Read more and watch the video here
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Progressing Quality Healthcare in Somaliland
We have been working with Somaliland’s Ministry of Health Development (MoHD) to improve the quality of the healthcare system, under the National Quality Improvement Programme. As we reach the mid-point of this 2-year programme, we hear from MoHD officials and hospital leadership about the current progress and early impacts of the work.
Read more and watch the video here
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A bastion against the storm: How King's is helping steward Sierra Leone through the greatest threat to modern healthcare
As part of the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS 2) programme, KGHP has been working with pharmacists and health leaders in Sierra Leone and Zambia to build policies and governance structures to combat antimicrobial resistance. In collaboration with our health partners, four pharmacist volunteers from the UK's NHS led this impactful work to strengthen national antimicrobial stewardship efforts. Pharmacist Alex Quayle reflects on the six months he spent in Sierra Leone.
Read Alex's story here
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KGHP responds to UK budget cuts to International Aid
We express profound concern over the UK government’s decision this week to reduce its International Aid budget to 0.3% of Gross National Income (GNI). This decision follows the earlier reduction from 0.7% to 0.5% in 2021, which already significantly weakened the UK’s ability to support global health equity and sustainable development.
Read our full statement in response to the budget cuts
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Research from King’s Global Health Partnerships
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Current Volunteering Opportunities
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We are recruiting for the following expert volunteer posts:
Surgical Nurse Educator, Democratic Republic of the Congo (remote and in-country)
Global Health Fellowship, Sierra Leone (in-country)
Surgical Site Infection Working Group, Democratic Republic of the Congo (remote)
Fracture Care Working Group, Democratic Republic of the Congo (remote)
Trauma Registry Working Group, Democratic Republic of the Congo (remote
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Meet the People behind the Partnerships
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Samia Khatun brings extensive senior leadership and programme management experience, having led multi-country programmes in over 40 countries across Africa, Asia and South and Central America - funded by donors including the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Department of Health and Social Care, European Commission, DFAT, UN, Big Lottery Fund, Comic Relief and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her previous work on health includes sexual reproductive health and family planning, maternal health to end preventable deaths, mental health (anti-stigma campaigns) and health system strengthening.
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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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