Sharing Health Empowerment is a not-for-profit organization based in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Sharing Health Empowerment UK sponsor volunteer doctors and health specialists to visit Zimbabwe and share their skills with the local healthcare community, with particular emphasis on HIV management and the welfare of AIDS orphans
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We know that the standard of medicine practiced in Zimbabwe has been and can continue to be of an excellent standard.
We realise that, like many aspects of society in Zimbabwe, health care has been under enormous pressure due to a number of factors. A key problem has been the temporary or permanent emigration of health professionals to other countries, leaving fewer and fewer health care workers to look after an increasing number of sick people. Other significant causes have been the collapse of the economy and general instability in the country. The increasing cost of health care worldwide, shortages of drugs and lack of access to many of the rapid advances in medicine have also contributed to our health care problems.
All of these factors have come at a bad time for our country for they have coincided with the worst health problem ever to face us, in the form of the AIDS epidemic. About 1 in every 3 Zimbabweans walk around and try to conduct their daily lives whilst infected with HIV, and many of these people feel unwell and are getting progressively sicker.
We feel that, far from being overwhelmingly depressing, this is the most challenging and important time for health care workers of any description who have any link at all to Zimbabwe. We are the generation who has been chosen to live during this time of enormous need, and history will judge us, as the generation who carried our beloved country through it’s worst crisis ever!
Our primary aim is simple : excellence in medicine in Zimbabwe. We refuse to accept that health care in Zimbabwe has to sink to a “lowest common denominator”, “mediocre” and “third rate” level. Whilst we have many problems, we still have relatively sound health infrastructure, and if looked after, maintained and even strengthened, we will be well equipped to get through the current crisis and then be in a position to take off to greater heights when the prevailing conditions are more conducive.
Excellence is a choice that is not dependant on whether or not you have to outperform the opposition, or dodge medico legal litigation. It is a daily commitment to doing the best and being the best for oneself and for our beloved country.
Our current focus is not on equipment or drugs but on health care personnel. We are aiming to look after, support, build up, encourage and spur on to excellence any and all people involved in the provision and maintenance of health in Zimbabwe. That means not just doctors and nurses although they have been our primary focus up to now. We are also working with pharmacists, physiotherapists, psychologists, dentists and a range of complementary and community health workers.
The greatest tool that we have at our disposal is knowledge. Knowledge is power when it comes to health and by increasing the level of knowledge of our health care workers and the Zimbabwean community in general we can allay panic, build capacity and strengthen the quality of health care.
We are in the business, therefore, of education and training of health care workers. We are working towards having a health system comprised of workers who are not “miles behind” the current thinking and latest knowledge in medicine but are up to date. We are building systems that will help us access specialist information and the latest and best ways to treat medical conditions. With the e-information age, it is possible to not fall behind and to remain current with the newest literature, results of clinical trials and accepted best practice. We believe that Zimbabwean health care workers should be practicing evidence-based medicine that is appropriate to our environment. Where we cannot provide the high-tech management, we want to know exactly how and where to access it, as quickly and reasonably as possible.
This has been our main focus up to now. We are working in partnership with the Centre for Disease Control, Atlanta (CDC) that has an office in Harare. Our aim is to have offered this training course to every doctor in Zimbabwe by the end of 2004. While the course covers the broad aspects of HIV, its main focus is on using Anti-Retrovirals (ARVs) for the management of HIV disease. ARVs are not yet widely available in Zimbabwe but they are coming in slowly, and since the advent of generics they are becoming more affordable. ARVs make a dramatic difference to the lives of HIV positive people and can prolong and significantly improve their quality of life.
We believe that since the prevalence of HIV is so high, that it is impractical to leave the management of HIV with ARVs to just specialists. All doctors, nurses and pharmacists in Zimbabwe need to have a working knowledge of these drugs and how they can be safely and effectively used for our patients.
Lecturers are Zimbabwean doctors with a special interest as well as some expertise in this field. We would always welcome outside expertise to come and help us do this training especially once we progress to the intermediate and advanced levels of the course.
This is our new project and the one with which we hope to work with specialists in London. Many Zimbabwean specialists have left and we are starting to see gaps in some areas eg cardiology, endocrinology, respiratory medicine & paediatric psychology to name a few. We want to pre-empt a dearth of knowledge in the country by working with specialists in the UK and South Africa to help maintain standards and upgrade our knowledge.
The way it works is simple : we already have and are working on more relationships with doctors in the UK and RSA. We would bring them to Zim for a week or two and in that time they would be very busy! They would do a lot of teaching to doctors at all levels and not just in Harare. In addition we would bring our patients to see them and get the latest advice on how to manage these conditions properly. We would also establish communication with them so that if we have questions and problems in the future, we can just e-mail or phone them and make sure we are doing the best for our patients.
So say for example your brother lives in Zimbabwe and he is an insulin dependant diabetic, or your mother lives in Zimbabwe and she has bad asthma. We bring out a specialist and your family member gets to see one of the top doctors from one of the top hospitals and gets the latest advice. Her doctor, who sees the specialist with her (because the specialist is not registered in Zim and so can’t see patients on his own) also learns about the best way to do things and can continue to manage him/her better.
This program is going to involve give and take on all sides. We know that we have the doctors who would come; we just need their airfare. Once they are in Harare we will look after them, host them and expose them to that rare and special Zimbabwean hospitality. At the end of it we will try to take them to a safari lodge for a couple of nights. They will give their time for free but get to have a fulfilling and exciting time. The benefits for us are obvious!
For every 1000 pounds we can bring out 1 or 2 doctors from the UK and 2 or 3 from South Africa. We will pick up all the expenses this side. We are particularly interested in bringing out ex Zimbabwean doctors who have an area of expertise that they could share with us. If you know any, let us know!
This project will ensure that standards of medicine in specialist areas are kept up and that it will be a place where health care workers of any description would be comfortable and happy to come back to anytime.