Kilsyth On Call Africa

On Call Africa

On Call Africa is a small Scottish Registered Charity' run by Scottish Doctors and Professionals operating in Zambia currently working in nine isolated villages in the Southern Province of Zambia.

 The Charity provides general medical services, antenatal care, child growth monitoring and a vaccination programme. Their team of medical volunteers enables the delivery of medical services to 920 people every month, many who have never seen a doctor before. Health education workshops run alongside medical clinics and provide a forum for thousands of community members to discuss health related issues and introduce community driven solutions to problems such as malnutrition, accessing safe drinking water and preventing the spread of HIV. On Call Africa is now focusing on the long term goal of sustainability. Public health initiatives have been introduced, including soap making from locally available ingredients and the installation of low cost hand washing facilities. A comprehensive community volunteer training programme has been developed to provide health workers with the tools and knowledge they require to manage basic medical conditions in their own communities.

Link to video presentation

Where On Call Africa Works

Zambia is a large landlocked sub-Saharan country where 59% of the population live in poverty. In Zambia there is only one doctor for every 14,000 people, compared to one for every 600 in the UK. Long distances and difficult terrain lie between isolated villages and the medical clinics serving them. Limited resources and staff shortages in existing medical facilities confound the difficulties that rural populations face when trying to access medical care. On Call Africa is striving to address the disparities between the provision of healthcare in urban and rural areas of Zambia. By choosing to operate in some of the most difficult to reach areas of the country we hope to bridge this gap. A medical clinic programme has been in operation in Zambia since January 2011.

The Strategic Aims are to:

• Provide on the spot medical care in target areas through the use of mobile medical clinics
•  Provide health education to local populations
•  Ultimately work towards a system of sustainable medical care in rural communities

What can we do to help?

The Rotary Club of Kilsyth proposes to work with On Call Africa to ensure the sustainability of their work in Zambia. In order to provide the much needed medical and associated support it is essential that On Call Africa is able to travel safely and reliably across difficult and sometimes treacherous terrain. It is therefore the aim of this project to buy a vehicle along with a three year service package that is fit for purpose and is sustainable   for the coming years of this project.

What do we need to Raise?

The total cost of the project is estimated to be approximately