Archive for 'health'
In the UK, Pakistan is regularly in the news, and most of it is bad. So you may find it hard to believe that anyone would work here by choice. But I do - and I really enjoy it! Pakistan is a fascinating country with great people, stunning landscapes, and real potential for a brighter [...]
I went to the launch of a new website, Turning the World Upside Down last week, and spent a fascinating 2 hours hearing about innovative ideas and approaches from poor and middle income countries that might help inform or shape health in the richer world. The beauty of the Turning the World Upside Down idea [...]
My name is Thomas Baylem and I work on the Education and Partnerships Team as part of the DFID graduate scheme. On 14th April, I'll be running the Brighton Marathon to raise as much money as I can to support Riders for Health's vital work in sub-Saharan Africa. Last weekend, being the good grandson that [...]
I attended the launch of the Uganda UK Health Alliance on 12th February, which was held near the Houses of Parliament in the very grand council chamber of One Great George Street. I had met many of the speakers at the meeting the previous evening, at a reception in the Houses of Parliament hosted by [...]
I mentioned in my last blog that I would be attending a meeting in Geneva to discuss the New Funding Model (NFM) of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, well I am just back from a fascinating couple of days getting to understand the new model. The meeting was a great opportunity to [...]
I couldn’t resist posting this picture of the snow that is currently covering the UK, marking a cold start to what promises to be an exciting year. 2013 is the year in which the UK will achieve its commitment to spend 0.7% of the UK’s Gross National Income on development aid. There has been a [...]
Today is Human Rights day and the last of 16 days of activism to end violence against women. Around 140 million women are living with the effects of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C). In Africa alone, there are around three million girls who are undergoing the practice of FGM/C each year. This doesn’t even include the [...]
The Congolese really love to dance. If you haven’t had the good fortune to hear Congolese music or see some top notch DRC dancing, the mighty Papa Wemba is a good place to start. A few weeks ago, before the current crisis in DR Congo, I found myself seeing Congolese dance of a very different kind. [...]
After visiting Siavonga District (mentioned in my last post), we travelled to Monze District and then deep in to the bush to visit a remote health post at Kayola. The first leg of the journey was down 20 kilometres of rough, dusty, rock-strewn dirt track to reach Nampeyo rural health centre (a health promotion poster [...]
I travelled miles down bumpy dirt tracks in rural Zambia last week in order to meet four Community Health Assistants (CHAs), who are recent graduates from a batch of over 300 health workers trained by the Government of the Republic of Zambia, with funding from DFID through the Clinton Health Access Initiative. This cadre of [...]
