Week Two Begins

This week we are visiting a variety of health organisations throughout Gambia, in order to develop and broaden our knowledge of the health systems ad services already established here.

We had a high-energy presentation first thing this morning, as the Nova Scotia Gambia Association (http://www.novascotiagambia.ca/) treated us to a powerful performance from their peer-to-peer drama troupe. The organisation runs numerous health education programmes in the country, one of which uses the drama troupe to deliver issue-based theatre sketches to villages and towns throughout Gambia, using young people to target and educate fellow young people.

This education programme, and its focus on using drama as a key vehicle to disseminate information, has been incredibly successful in educating young people in Gambia through its ability to tackle sensitive issues such as HIV, domestic violence and sex-education in an engaging and accessible manner.

We then visited Concern Universal (http://www.concernuniversal.org/), a British NGO that specialises in offering education, support and treatment for HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis. They have a particular focus on capacity building, setting up organisational structures and frameworks for governmental and non-governmental services.

Concern Universal receives financial support from the Global Fund, and has offices in several countries throughout Africa. Their Gambian office also serves large sections of Senegal, particularly in the south of the country, where they have primarily been involved in peace-building operations.

Finally, we met the several members of staff at the Gambian Family Planning Association (GFPA), before having a tour of their clinic, in which they offer family planning advice seven days a week, as well as also carrying out comprehensive medical services, including anti-natal care, vaccinations and infant care.

It was extremely useful to meet with the three organisations and see the work that they do, as all three are relevant to out infant-malnutrition project, in particular through their focus on health education. Seeing first-hand other organisations and the methods by which offer health care, education and treatment is enabling us to better assess and develop our own methodology, and will hopefully help to positively influence the outcomes of our project.