Sala Hantle Africa

(Stay Well Africa)

The goal of the Sala Hantle Africa project is to provide direct patient care for people suffering from HIV/AIDS and to support facilities, institutions and other organizations that have been formed in response to the AIDS crisis of sub-Saharan Africa.

Some of the things we do:

• Assist local physicians, nurses and pharmacists in direct patient care activities;
• Work with local HIV/AIDS support groups, in training and development;
• Provide community outreach and education on HIV/AIDS prevention and care;
• Provide pain management and palliative care workshops to local caregivers;
• Assist in the procurement and dispensing of medications in rural settings;
• Investigate potential for small scale dispensaries and clinics in rural facility settings.

About Sala Hantle Africa

In early 2007 two SOLID members, a nurse and a pharmacist, traveled to Africa to volunteer their time, skills and energy. They spent 11 weeks in clinics, hospitals and villages in Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho in the inaugural trip organized under Sala Hantle Africa. During that voyage they discovered a number of projects that were critical to the communities so heavily impacted by the AIDS crisis and poverty. The projects, however, were struggling to maintain basic operations due to the dire shortage of resources.

While financial resources are paramount to enabling these facilities and organizations to provide direct health care, human resources are also in severe shortage. Sala Hantle Africa works towards the provision of:

• Direct financial aid to HIV/AIDS support and care institutions and organizations
• In-kind support in medical supplies, pharmaceutical drugs and other needed supplies and equipment.

In addition, we hope to facilitate and support the placement of medically qualified people in order to support clinical services in Africa benfiting people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in countries of sub-Saharan Africa where the infection rate approaches 40%. Individuals living with, or affected by HIV/AIDS face great challenges accessing medical, nursing and pharmaceutical care due to the sheer demand on the system in the region. Basic health care is a scarcity in much of sub-Saharan Africa, and this project endeavors to establish or enhance primary care through building capacity for the required systems, facilities and skills in a range of resource constrained settings.

Existing primary caregivers in these regions are stretched to their limits, in some cases beyond them, in attempting to provide the health care essentials for a population in dire need. Sala Hantle Africa seeks to support the existing caregivers in the most relevant way to our African partners, thereby providing a direct benefit to the communities, families and individuals in great need for primary health care.

PROJECTS OF SALA HANTLE AFRICA:

The projects of Sala Hantle Africa include:

• Supporting the Ndi Moyo Palliative Care Unit in Malawi;
• Producing "Dignity and Compassion" a training film on palliative care in sub-Saharan Africa;
• Support for Kuwangisana Orphan and HIV Home Based Care Project in Mozambique;
• Support for Nkhoma Hospital in Malawi;
• Support for Kambhoke Orphanage and School in Swaziland;

Please see How to Contribute for options on donating to this critical initiative.

Malawi – Ndi Moyo Palliative Care Unit

www.ndimoyo.org

Ndi Moyo is a palliative care facility for HIV/AIDS patients in the Salima area of Malawi, started by a Malawian Nurse, Lucy Finch. A Palliative Care Center has now been opened and includes a consultation room, a nurse’s room, dispensary, and a common waiting area.

This centre currently provides much needed medical and supportive care to 100 patients. Palliative care is critical in alleviating the suffering of the chronically and terminally ill, addressing not only the physical needs of patients, but also their psychological, spiritual and social needs as they approach death.

Sala Hantle Africa will support skilled intervention in the palliative care area of expertise through workshop and conference training for caregivers on pain management and alleviation of suffering in death. The conference would comprise of a five-day series of lectures and practical application of knowledge for nurses and other lay caregivers in the Salima District of Malawi. A detailed itinerary of palliative care guidelines would be covered, including patient assessment, pain management protocols, adjunctive therapy, and general principles in the care of the dying.

This conference on palliative care will provide the basis for resource materials for ongoing Sala Hantle Africa program activities in engaging health professionals in Canada in the HIV/AIDS pandemic of sub-Saharan Africa through placement assistance and pre-placement training.

Ndi Moyo also has a drastic need for an essential supplies fund which would allow them to provide basic comfort measures such as blankets, bedding, firewood, food and transport for her isolated and poverty stricken clients. Individuals living with, or affected by HIV/AIDS face great challenges accessing medical, nursing and pharmaceutical care due to the sheer demand on the system in the region. Basic health care is a scarcity in much of Africa, and palliative care is almost unheard of, resulting in thousands of unnecessarily torturous deaths. These clients often have no comfort measures in their last days of life, and the essential supplies fund would alleviate their suffering.

The positive impact of the principles of palliative care training, as well as the availability of medications to alleviate suffering, will be greatly felt for those clients affected most harshly by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Dignity and Compassion: Palliative Care in sub-Saharan Africa Training Film

The project will see the development of a training film on palliative care in the resource stretched sub-Saharan African countries for medical professionals from North America and from Africa. The film is an integral component of a larger programme to bring the much-needed skills and resources to palliative care in sub-Saharan Africa where it is largely absent.

The training film will provide a legacy for ongoing programmes that will engage North American medical professionals to become involved in solutions of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa and develop the skills necessary to provide palliative care for the chronically and terminally ill in communities of Africa. It will be equally valuable to both Africans and North Americans; lay-caregivers and professionals.

Produced by award winning film-maker Judy Jackson, the film will follow the programme of the Ndi Moyo Palliative Care Centre in Malawi with participation of other African organizations such as Hospice Uganda.

Mozambique – Kuwangisana Orphan and Home Based Care Project

The civil war in Mozambique destroyed much of the infrastructure of the area around Caia, leaving many people without crops, schools, churches, hospitals, or roads. Local children had no educational opportunities, preventing them from gaining the knowledge and skills they need for a better future. Medical treatment was scarce and many people suffered from easily treatable illnesses with HIV/AIDS continuing to take a terrible toll on the population.

The Kapasseni Project is dedicated to assisting in the regeneration of Mozambique by providing children and their families with educational opportunities, medical assistance and spiritual support. A school and health center has now been built in Caia, and ongoing programs of home based support are operating due to the efforts of the Kapasseni Project.

Sena is a township in Caia District, in the Sofala Province of Mozambique - a poverty affected, rural community with farming areas growing spices and sesame seed and a population of 30,000 residents. Perpetua Alfazema (founder of the Kapasseni Project) went to Sena and several villages in April 2005 to assess the need for home based care. With increasing traffic to the area, the removal of the barrier of remoteness is resulting in its residents and the residents of neighboring villages being exposed to increasing HIV risk. A new community center will serve as the base of operations in Sena and reach into villages that may be at risk and provide home based care, support and education. A temporary rented office has been established in Sena as the Headquarters so the project could begin in February 2006, however long term accommodation for the project is required.

The pharmacy is an integral component of services that will be delivered through the Kuwangisana project. SOLID is supporting the construction and supply of the facility in order to facilitate the much needed frontline clinical care.

Swaziland - Kambhoke School and Orphanage

Shortly after retiring from Swaziland's diplomatic service, Sipho Mamba was staggered to discover over 400 AIDS orphans in his community, with only their grandmothers to care for them. Sipho turned his own homestead into a school for 90 of these children. His wife Colleen feeds them twice a day. His center also helps local people re-establish traditional crops and learn permaculture techniques so that a grandmother's small plot can feed several children.

Sipho’s school has become a model of community mobilization as he continues to find ways to help still more children, not just to survive, but to turn the tide of the epidemic and see a new future for their country.

Sala Hantle Africa is working to support basic nursing and pharmaceutical care to the orphans in the area, as well as investigate the potential for developing a small dispensary and clinic area to provide ongoing care for the local residents. The care of the health needs of the orphans and their caregivers is critical to not only their survival but also the survival of the country and the culture. Health care of these children is essential in the preparation of the foundation of self-care and subsequent self-esteem. Only when this foundation is in place with there is sufficient cause for safe and healthy choices by themselves and their community as these children step into young adulthood. In a few short years there will be no grandmothers (caregivers). These children hold the future of their community and country in their hands.

The project objectives are:

• To provide basic medications, refrigerator and generator, (to ensure temperature requirements for some medications.)
• To provide for nursing services visiting the school twice per month in order to provide for the health care needs and education of the children will travel to their caregivers for the same purpose.
• To provide transportation to bring of medical supplies and the means by which the nurse can get to the caregivers of the orphans. (This is a remote region, taking nearly 4 hours by vehicle from the nearest town where medical supplies can be purchased.) The vehicle purchase will allow the project to extend to the rest of the immediate community where 400 AIDS orphans live.

This project provides this community, others like it, and those in other African countries a model for how to handle the huge problem of “how to deal with AIDS orphans”.

Please see How to Contribute for options on donating to these critical initiatives.