Supporting child health care in Africa

www.standrewsclinics.org.uk  

St Andrew’s Clinics for Children (STACC) is a Charity set up to support the development and provision of health care for poor children in sub-Saharan Africa.

This year STACC seeks your support for the work of three of its centres, namely in communities around Ile-Ife in Nigeria, on Pemba Island the second largest island of Zanzibar, and for the Children’s Ward at St Kizito Hospital in Matany, Uganda.

Last year the health care in Nigeria was based on 16 monthly mobile clinics serving some 7,000 children under five, of whom about 3,000 presented with malaria. After treatment, no deaths from malaria were recorded. There is no charge. There are now 20 clinics, and STACC invite gifts that can be used for treating malaria, a major cause of death for young African children. £25.00 will treat 8 children.

The health care for children on Pemba Island is offered at a permanent centre at Gombani and through an outreach service. This is the only free health care on the island where over 300,000 people live. During 2015 about 20,000 children were treated, with the common ailments being pneumonia, upper respiratory tract infections, diarrhoeal diseases and skin infections. The need is great - £25 provides 25 treatments.

The Children’s Ward at St Kizito Hospital, located in the poorest part of Uganda, is the biggest and busiest ward in the hospital and admits about 6,000 patients every year; estimates show that a donation of £25.00 will cover the cost of maintaining a bed for its average time of occupancy.

Mothers and children at Gombani clinic, Pemba Island and the Children’s Ward, St Kizito Hospital.

Images courtesy of STACC