Grounds For Health » jane goodall institute

Video: Emmanuel Mtiti on Grounds for Health

Justin Mool — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:17:00 +0000

Emmanuel Mtiti is the Jane Goodall Institute Program Director of the Greater Gombe Ecosystem Program. On our trip to Tanzania in February, we sat down with Mtiti to discuss his perspective on Grounds for Health.

Tanzania Trip Report: Training

staff — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:00:39 +0000

From June 17 through July 5, 2010, we conducted a two-week training and cervical cancer screening campaign in Kigoma, Tanzania. This trip marked our fourth visit to Kigoma and third training and screening campaign at this site. As in our other sites, we continue to focus on the implementation of the Single Visit Approach for the prevention of cervical cancer.

Martha Caswell, who is our program director for Latin America, came to Tanzania for the first time to bring her training expertise. We were also joined by an expert cohort of women’s health clinicians and Grounds for Health volunteers: Mary Cunnane, Madelyn Hamilton, Susan Hollinger and Ellen Starr. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to all the volunteers for the completion of another incredible trip.

HIGHLIGHTS

Successful VIA training of 9 new providers, which brings VIA screening access to a total of 12 sites in the region.
5 Participants became certified to administer cryotherapy treatment. This will make the Single Visit Approach possible at 4 additional sites in Kigoma, bringing the number of SVA sites to 6 total in the region, with all but one district hospital represented.
Continued cooperation with Jhpiego: Dr. Mary Rose Giattas, a Jhpiego MD again was outstanding as our lead trainer.
Continued support of ICAP: 4 Cryotherapy Units, 10 CO₂ Tanks and 112 specula were purchased and donated by ICAP to equip four district hospitals in ability to provide SVA.
Ministry of Health acknowledged the Grounds for Health / Jane Goodall Institute / Kanyovu Collaborative Cervical Cancer Prevention Project as a national demonstration pilot project.
ICAP agreed to provide ongoing access to essential supplies for screening and treatment at all current participating health facilities. ICAP also agreed to provide transportation for GFH in-country staff Annah Kichambati for monthly supportive supervision visits at all twelve sites in Kigoma. Thanks ICAP!
Further discussions and early planning began with ICAP and local Ministries of Health to facilitate roll-out of program throughout the region of Kigoma.

Editor’s Note: Martha and Elisa are currently on well-deserved vacations. When they return we will post some personal narratives from the trip and update the photos below with captions. Stay tuned!

Click on any image to see full screen:

GFH at JGI and in Tanzania

Katie Cox — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:13:52 +0000

Katie, August (left) with Alice Macharia, JGI director of East Africa programs in front of a classic image of Dr. Jane Goodall

After days of canceled flights and other travel woes, our full team of staff and volunteers has finally arrived in Kigoma, Tanzania. This month, they’ll be training ten more local health workers in the Single Visit Approach and screening nearly 300 women. They’ll also have the pleasure of a visit from Dr. Jane Goodall herself, who is celebrating 50 years of saving chimpanzees and empowering their human neighbors in the nearby Gombe National Park.

Just last month, August and I visited the Jane Goodall Institute in Washington, DC. JGI has been Grounds for Health’s partner in Tanzania since the inception of our program there, linking us to community leaders, local health authorities, and JGI’s thriving network of village health promoters, or community-based distribution agents (CBDAs).

In a meeting with JGI’s Alice Macharia, George Strunden, and Claire Jones, we discussed the key outcomes of our last two years in Kigoma. In that time, we’ve equipped two regional hospitals for cryotherapy, trained ten doctors and nurses, screened over 1,500 women, and of the 40 who tested positive, 90% were able to receive treatment the same day. We’ve recruited Dr. Annah Kichambati, former lead trainer for JGI’s CBDA program, to coordinate follow-up with trainees and promoters. The Tanzanian Ministry of Health has named our program one of five national demonstration sites. In light of these successes, we cemented our commitment to an ongoing Grounds for Health/JGI partnership and to telling the powerful story of our work in Kigoma.

In the coming year, we’ll be partnering with the International Committee for AIDS Prevention (ICAP), regional and national Ministries of Health, and our long-standing coffee partners Kanyovu and Sustainable Harvest, to expand our programs and ensure their long-term sustainability. Thanks to these collaborations, we’ve been able to align Grounds for Health’s and JGI’s missions of women’s health and conservation through community empowerment.