African Medical and Research Foundation Case Study Review
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African Medical and Research Foundation Case Study Review
African Medical and Research foundation (AMREF) is a non-governmental research organization founded and based in Africa with 50 years’ experience in health development. It has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. It was founded by three surgeons whose aim was to provide medical services to the interior communities. Currently, it is one of the leading research organizations in Kenya and in Africa. (AMREF Health Africa: A Mobile Solution for Training and Supporting Community Health Workers, 2016).
Health is an attribute that is molded in both the communities and in individual households. Considering health in the community level, it becomes easy to determine the relationship between the causes of poor health and the factors that promote good health. These causes can be categorized into three: peoples’ living styles, the levels of control they might have on their health conditions and how their participation in their own health conditions can be improved. Conducting research on the existing health systems would be a great idea since the activities taking place within the health facilities is more important than the structure itself. There are efforts exerted by the community in general to aid in improving community health, which in turn have tremendous effects in the improvement process. Great ideas regarding improvement of health institutions could be collected from the community members by working with them to achieving these improvements. The ideas collected from the community are often used to define patients’ needs and identify possible solutions for the specified needs. Therefore, conducting these types of research may have a positive and long-lasting impact on community health.
Strategic thinking is when an individual think in a creative manner as well as exchanging ideas with other parties to solve challenges facing organizations such as high costs of treatment and of infrastructure, long distances between residential areas and health facilities, inability to maintain long-term relationships with prospective patients, high attrition rates, and an inability to rapidly mobilize health workers in times of phenomena such as outbreaks (AMREF Health Africa: A Mobile Solution for Training and Supporting Community Health Workers, 2016). Strategic thinking often benefits the organization in many ways (Haycuck, Cheadle, & Bluestone, 2012). From the case study, several elements of broad strategic thinking can be identified. Learning is demonstrated by AMREF’s mission statement which states that, “…In creating vibrant networks of informed communities that worked with empowered health workers in stronger health systems, we aim to ensure every African has access to the good health which is theirs by right.”. African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) is a body that was developed to fight diseases in Africans when they just emerged to prevent damage. Some of the issues addressed are school health, water, sanitation and hygiene. Learning is a key element of broad strategic thinking which helps in reflecting on the successes and failures experienced to improve performance and assisting in decision-making (White, Stallones, ; Last, 2013).
The case study covers aspects of social development that were realized. Firstly, promoting primary health care influences the building of partnerships. The primary goal of AMREF should be taking into account the relationship between the environment, culture, economics, micro-finance, politics and leadership and provision of improved health-care. They should determine how the above aspects will aid in providing health care according to patients’ needs. AMREF is accepting funds from both institutions and individuals to help in the improvement of the health care facilities. In addition, financing should also be a consideration of any other corporation that intends to offer high quality health care. Alternatively, politics is a great tool that would help in eliminating many African medical problems. Politics go hand in hand with funding. It there was enough supply of funds, AMREF could conduct its activities comfortably, and thus, some of these African health problems could have been eliminated long ago (White, Stallones, & Last, 2013).
AMREF’s success can be attributed to both local and foreign partnerships. The case study clearly indicates that the WHO’s “SAFE” protocol had a great impact on their information campaign on food preparation, medical surgery and antibiotics. Since the most attributed cause of many infections in Africa is lack of clean water, AMREF facilitated the introduction of the “leaky tin technology” which involves a can with a hole bored by a thorn that prevented clean water from contamination. Africans have suffered a great lot in the past by consuming untreated water leading to contracting infectious and deadly diseases which in turn cause death. This new technology will help in reducing Africa’s morbidity and mortality rate.
Healthy policy is a set of rules that govern the implementation of health procedures which in turn increase the health and well-being of the members of the involved community. It enables individuals take control of their health, improve it, and assist others in doing the same (Kemm, 2001). The case study reveals several cases of healthy policy. One case is where AMREF’s safe protocol was reported to have reduced active disease in the Rift Valley, Kenya, from 47% to 16%. AMREF’s healthy policy alongside individuals effort helped achieve the dramatic changes mentioned (AMREF Health Africa: A Mobile Solution for Training and Supporting Community Health Workers, 2016).
The strategies mentioned in the case study are being currently implemented in other parts of the world such as in the United States. However, since Africa is a developing continent, some of the strategies were successful in providing the basis for the provision of basic health care regarding the common health problems within the communities. The case study reveals that AMREF has played a major role in reducing active diseases in children by approximately three times within four years; that is, from47% to 16%. This achievement was brought about by the systematic strategies AMREF implemented to curb the spread and causes of these diseases and the governmental support they received (White, Stallones, ; Last, 2013).
In Africa, some disease conditions are prevalent than others and the actions taken on them can be dated many years back. Therefore, both the local and state authority have a huge role to play in controlling and curing these prevalent diseases. To eliminate flies from the plains of Kenya and to facilitate the provision of clean water, continuous and effective improvements should be made on the government policy considering that the current goal is to eliminate flies by 2020 (White, Stallones, ; Last, 2013).
Involvement of individuals in their health could either have positive or no results at all. The inferences from (George., et al) indicate that the impact of community involvement cannot be solidly determined, but rather it varies from individual to individual. The impact of interactions in community participation could not be verified. Therefore, the level in which communities participate in health management activities could not be verified (George, Mehra, Scott, ; Sriram, 2015).
Involving communities in decision making activities regarding health is a basic strategy to aid in improving quality of service and reducing cost of treatment. This strategy is being used in many parts of the world where it has had dramatic effects on community health. In addition, giving community members a chance to propose specific changes that would help improve quality of health care services and the health care facilities in general would have an impact on improving the health outcomes and the responsiveness of local health care. These positive results may have a long-lasting effect on community health due to the improvement in infrastructure and service delivery (Kenny, Farmer, Dickson, ; Hyett, 2014).
A research done on families in Detroit clearly states the advantages of active community involvement in matters concerning their health. Data collected from the survey is constantly being reviewed and analyzed and will be released in future articles. However, the study shows that involvement of community lay workers can help increase knowledge and understanding phenomena. Their involvement can further aid in adding value to health education and help initiate and extend research on health topics (Edgren, et al.). Active involvement of community members expediates the anticipated changes.
From the case study and the relevant scholarly articles, it is clear that active involvement of community members in issues regarding their health and safety has a great impact in improvement of these sectors. This is because it helps generate possible problems facing the communities at large and possible solutions to these problems. However, limited research has been conducted on the issue and therefore the existing information is not fully reliable.
