Health The Gambia
Member profile
Health The Gambia (HTG) is a charity based in the United Kingdom committed to supporting healthcare in The Gambia, West Africa. Founded in 2004, the charity has supplied equipment, training and staff to the country's only major hospital in the capital, Banjul. HTG was founded by a mixture of Gambians and Europeans, all of whom have had direct experience of working in The Gambia. HTG supports healthcare in The Gambia by funding small projects at Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH), the only sizeable facility in the area, and by arranging staff training. It provides healthcare too for the local population and referral services for the entire country.
Main activities
HTG’s work is designed to provide long term improvements in healthcare in The Gambia. Some of this is by providing financial assistance for training, staff and equipment and some of it is by recruiting and funding people from the UK and Europe to go and live and work in The Gambia, allowing them to transfer their skills to the people working there. Some of HTG’s work focuses on “obvious” problems, such as malnutrition, malaria and other illnesses. Other areas of their work aim to help strengthen the structure of the hospital by providing people with the management and financial skills they need to run a large hospital.
Links to the health workforce crisis
HTG is working with RVTH on a scheme to boost the opportunities for development available to nursing staff and to provide and improve incentives for them to work more effectively in what are often trying, resource-poor conditions. Each department at RVTH is headed by a senior nurse, or Matron, and HTG is a firm believer in the vital work that they do -- a stable core of expertise. Management knows their importance, so to both improve performance and support their work; HTG has funded part-time management training courses for 8 of the 16 matrons, with an option to fund the rest.
Call for knowledge information:
Alliance Members are invited to submit any relevant knowledge products such as documents, reports, tools, multimedia, links to specific project web sites by sending an email to ghwa@who.int. The Alliance Secretariat will publish relevant products on the Member's page.
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