Africa Grants Programme – New Grantees Announced

THET is pleased to announce that fourteen health partnerships have been awarded funding through the Johnson & Johnson Africa Grants Programme (AGP), working with a focus on strengthening the healthcare workforce in two key areas:  surgical and anaesthetic care and community healthcare.

Now in its third round, the AGP supports the training of health workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Funded by Johnson and Johnson (J&J) and managed by THET, the AGP supports projects that mobilise UK and Irish health workers to develop the capacity of health workers in Africa through skills transfer, training, mentoring and other collaborative work.

From 2017 to 2019, AGP funding supported seven health partnership projects in four African countries, ranging from setting up palliative care training programmes for community health workers in Uganda, to improving primary trauma care services in Sierra Leone, and training health workers in laparoscopic surgery techniques for children with cancer in Ghana. A full list of projects and their impact is available on our website.

Projects under the AGP 2019-20 will focus on strengthening the healthcare workforce in one of the following two target areas:

1. Essential Surgical and Anaesthetic Care: the aim of this stream is to improve the access to, and availability of, quality essential surgery and anaesthetic care, particularly for maternal, neonatal or paediatric surgical conditions.
2. Community Healthcare: this stream will focus on increasing the availability and quality of essential healthcare (including attended births) and health information to underserved populations, including women and children, by training those who work and serve on the frontline of healthcare systems.

Projects will be implemented in nine countries in Africa:

• Zimbabwe
• Ethiopia
• The Gambia
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Somaliland
• Zambia
• Malawi
• Uganda
• Rwanda

• Exploring multidisciplinary problems in breast cancer investigation, diagnosis and specialist care in Zimbabwe
  • Stream 1: Essential Surgical and Anaesthetic Care
  • UK Partner: Association of Breast Surgery of Great Britain and Ireland
  • LMIC Partner: Bulawayo Breast Surgery Forum/United Bulawayo Hospitals
• Improving the capacity for delivering Orthopaedic care to Barhir Dar and the surrounding Amhara region through sustained teaching and training in Ethiopia
  • Stream 1: Essential Surgical and Anaesthetic Care
  • UK Partner: Bristol Children’s Hospital
  • LMIC Partner: Tibebe Ghion Specialized Hospital
• Gambia Anaesthesia Development Project
  • Stream 1: Essential Surgical and Anaesthetic Care
  • UK Partner: World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists – UK
  • LMIC Partner: Anesthetists’ Society of The Gambia
• Development of the Ethiopia Anaesthesia Development Program
  • Stream 1: Essential Surgical and Anaesthetic Care
  • UK Partner: Global Anaesthesia Development Program
  • LMIC Partner: Addis Ababa University and Black Lion Hospital
• Developing and implementing a Package of Safer Surgery Interventions in Kongo Central Province, DRC
  • Stream 1: Essential Surgical and Anaesthetic Care
  • UK Partner: King’s College London
  • LMIC Partner: Le Ministère Provincial de la Santé et Education (HPSE) Kongo Central
• Triage and Safer Surgery in Hargeisa Group Hospital, Somaliland
  • Stream 1: Essential Surgical and Anaesthetic Care
  • UK Partner: King’s College London
  • LMIC Partner: Hargeisa Group Hospital
• 20 Quality Improvement Projects in Perioperative Care as part of Bachelor of Science (BSC) in Anaesthesia, Zambia
  • Stream 1: Essential Surgical and Anaesthetic Care
  • UK Partner: Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • LMIC Partner: Ministry of Health, Zambia

• Advancing Access to Critical Care Education (AACCE) Stage 2, Zambia
  • Stream 1: Essential Surgical and Anaesthetic Care
  • UK Partner: Birmingham City University
  • LMIC Partner: Lusaka College of Nursing
• Development of a partnership with a view to develop palliative care services for children in The Gambia
  • Stream 2: Community Healthcare
  • UK Partner: International Children’s Palliative Care Network
  • LMIC Partner: Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital/Gambia Ministry of Health
• Development of Health Partnership to address ‘task shifting’ emergency dental care to Clinical Officers in rural Malawi
  • Stream 2: Community Healthcare
  • UK Partner: Bridge2Aid
  • LMIC Partner: Dental Association of Malawi
• Malawi-Scotland Maternal Mental Health Partnership
  • Stream 2: Community Healthcare
  • UK Partner: Maternal Mental Health Scotland
  • LMIC Partner: St John of God Hospitaller Services
• Training Health Workers to Prevent Skin Cancer among People with Albinism in Malawi
  • Stream 2: Community Healthcare
  • UK Partner: Standing Voice (NGO)
  • The Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi
• Suicide Prevention Training in Health Centres in Gulu, Northern Uganda
  • Stream 2: Community Healthcare
  • UK Partner: Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
  • LMIC Partner: District Health Office Gulu
• Integrating an evidence based early intervention programme for young children with developmental disability into the public health system in Rwanda
  • Stream 2: Community Healthcare
  • UK Partner: University College London Hospitals
  • LMIC Partner: Partners In Health/Inshuti Mu Buzima