Archive for the ‘Better Healthcare for Africa’ Category

BHA 2011 Year-End Review

Monday, December 26th, 2011

Dear Friends,

As the year comes to a close we are excited to share the accomplishments of Better Healthcare for Africa with you. BHA had a very successful year in 2011, and we hope you will consider making a tax-deductible donation to enable us to continue our efforts. We often worked in partnership with other nonprofits in ways that were mutually beneficial and that enabled us to stretch our precious dollars. We look forward to continuing those relationships. Here is a brief recap of BHA’s main activities in 2011:

  • BHA helped Brother’s Brother Foundation (BBF) and Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach supply and support a 40-foot container of donated medical supplies that BBF shipped to St. Albert’s Mission Hospital this summer.
  •  BHA purchased a large refurbished autoclave for Muvonde Mission Hospital, which BBF shipped to Muvonde as part of another container shipment this autumn. Muvonde performs an impressive number of surgeries daily, including mastectomies and prostatectomies for cancer, and cataract and glaucoma surgery. They had been without a large autoclave since 1990.
  •  Muvonde was one of five hospitals visited in early 2011. During this trip, BHA hand-carried medical supplies that were shared among these hospitals. The supplies were provided by Columbus area hospitals and by Brother’s Brother. Read about the overall visit here.
  • Through BBF, BHA worked with International Orthodox Christian Charities to provide five pediatric wheelchairs for St. Albert’s and for Mutemwa Leprosy and Care Centre in Zimbabwe.
  •  Global Links Suture Program provided hundreds of sutures that BHA shipped to St. Albert’s, which shared many of them with other mission hospitals.
  •  Through the generosity of individual donors, BHA provided several teaching models for a new midwifery training program at St. Albert’s.
  •  BHA began accepting donations on behalf of Maipelo Trust, a charity registered in Gaborone, Botswana, that provides medical care to Zimbabwean and other migrant and refugee families with AIDS in Botswana.

In 2012, we will work to improve cancer care at St Albert’s and other hospitals in Zimbabwe. Our focus will be cervical- and breast-cancer early detection, treatment and education. Donations to help support this effort are needed.

BHA is an all-volunteer organization with minimal expenses, so 98-99% of donations go toward improving healthcare and reducing suffering in southern Africa. Please make a donation using PayPal on our website or by mailing a check, payable to Better Healthcare for Africa, to our postal address:

Better Healthcare for Africa
P.O. Box 361132
Columbus, OH 43236-1132

Thank you, and all of us at Better Healthcare for Africa hope you have a New Year of peace, contentment and good health.

Sincerely…Darrell

Darrell E. Ward
President
Better Healthcare for Africa

St. Albert’s as seen by Brother’s Brother Foundation

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

In December 2010, Dr. Jerry “Chip” Lambert, medical director for Brother’s Brother Foundation, visited several mission hospitals in Zimbabwe and Malawi as an initial step in identifying hospitals that might receive supplies from container shipments that Brother’s Brother is planning to send this year to Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Liberia. His visits included a stop at St. Albert’s Mission Hospital. Brother’s Brother has kindly made Dr. Lambert’s report about the hospital available to BHA, and we present it as an independent view of the hospital and further evidence for why BHA supports St. Albert’s. (more…)

Why St. Albert’s?

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

Visitors new to our blog may wonder why we’ve chosen to support St. Albert’s Mission Hospital and its doctors and staff. The reason is straight forward: Drs. Elizabeth Tarira, Neela Naha and Julia Musariri, along with staff such as Melania Nymukuwa are extraordinary in their dedication and courage in providing healthcare under extremely difficult economic and political conditions. To know them is to want to help them, and you can get to know them and their work here at Better Healthcare for Africa. For starters, read this brief article from the autumn 2010 issue of The Global Address, the newsletter for Ohio State University’s Center for Global Health. It explains some of the reasons why I work to help St. Albert’s Mission Hospital and why you might want to also. Many thanks and take care…Darrell