Last month, REACH entered into a collaboration with a group at the Johns Hopkins University on a study to investigate cardiovascular risk among West African immigrants in the Maryland, DC, VA area in the US. Led by doctoral candidate Yvonne Commodore-Mensah at the School of Nursing, this study is important because it contributes to the body of research that elucidates how much of cardiovascular disease is attributed to genetics as opposed to environmental contributors such as diet, exercise and smoking. Faculty and students from the undergraduate college, and the schools of Medicine and Public Health are also involved in this study.
While REACH is always happy to volunteer time and effort to serve communities surrounding its members, this also provides a great opportunity for our organization to learn the logistics of running a mobile clinic from the team at Johns Hopkins for translation into our Mobile Clinic in Ghana!
More updates to follow!
As usual, we are super excited and grateful for your interest and support!
Best,
Your friends at REACH~!
On December 31st of this year, REACH matures into a Mobile Clinic which provides preventive health and primary diagnostic, treatment, referral and counselling services to communities in the Greater Accra Metropolis!
Thank you for planting the seeds that began this endeavor!
Our goals remain the same, including:
- improving current standards in health-care delivery as we work with partner health centers in Ghana
- reducing the occurence of preventable sufferering and deaths as a result of infectious and chronic diseases in communities in Ghana.
We would like your input in selecting a name for our maiden Mobile Clinic Unit. Please send us some suggestions here: http://www.reachghana.org/contact-us/
We will send you some updates shortly on our holiday activities. In the meantime, do not hesitate to send us a gift through our fundraising page: http://www.globalgiving.org/donate/8167/reach-ghana/
Best in all your endeavors!
A survey is underway to measure the impact of our December Screenathon. As a reminder, we made available essential education on disease prevention while treating cases of malaria, diarrhoeal and respiratory illnesses among others. We also provided screening for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes. We delivered basic care at the event and transferred complex cases to a local polyclinic. In addition, we educated the community on the availability of the National Health Insurance Scheme and have registered over 300 adults and children since the beginning of our project:
To measure the impact of our intervention, data to be collected include:
- Mosquito net usage and incidence of malaria
- Assessment of Follow-up at Local Medical Centers post Screenathon
- Usage of the Community Health Post at the Screenathon Site.
We are also proud to report that our organization has been involved with Medical Fiesta 2012 in Accra Ghana. This is a week-long Continuing Medical Education International Conference that serves to update Ghanaian healthcare professionals on current medical and surgical practices and procedures in the developed world, and enables physicians and other healthcare professionals licensed in the USA to fulfill licensure board requirements while they are practicing in developing countries.
Thanks again for your generous support of REACH and the Screenathon.
Screenathon 2011 Report
Participation:
Over 50 volunteers, consisting of REACH members based in the USA, students and recent graduates of the University of Ghana Medical and Dental Schools, and friends of REACH.
Date: December 29, 2011
Services Provided:
Coverage: Approximately 500 adults and children
Financial Report:
(amounts converted from Ghanaian cedis)
Supplies
Drugs $249.95
(Additional drugs estimated at $1000 donated by Cocoa Clinic, Accra.)
Nets $1132.26
Blood glucose testing supplies $374.20
NHIS Registration $64.52
Photographer $83.87
Volunteers
Meals, Refreshments, Promotional Materials $393.55
Logistics
Transportation $366.66
Communications $80.00
Screening site $30.00
Stationery $12.67
Bank fees $30.00
Tips/Miscellaneous $113.33
Total $2931.01
Links:
A small study was done to assess usage of nets distributed by REACH Ghana in Glefe, the beneficiary slum community of our Screenathon project.
Results: There was higher percentage usage of nets when it was distributed by REACH as compared to nets obtained from other means. The incidence of malaria was generally reduced in households and individuals who used the nets, but due to a small sample size and lack of specific questions, no firm conclusions could be drawn. Willingness to pay for a net varied among different groups, with most individuals willing to pay between 1-3 cedis for a net.
Future directions: Further efforts should be aimed towards identifying the potential barriers to the use of nets, especially among the targeted population of children below the age of 5 and women of childbearing age.
Links:
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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