AMREF is helping to fight Africa’s deepening health crisis – finding local, appropriate solutions to community health needs.
The need is urgent:
- those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS continue to be under-served, including children orphaned by HIV and those who have no access to ARVs
- child and maternal deaths have increased – or at best frozen – at unacceptably high levels
- life expectancy has decreased – in some African countries they are half or two-thirds of those in rich countries
- in some countries, conflict and poverty have led to preventable diseases that were once under control resurfacing and claiming lives.
Health spending in Africa is woefully inadequate. The continent bears 25% of the world’s ‘burden’ of disease, yet has only 3% of the world’s health workers and only 1% of global health expenditure.
AMREF is challenging this on many fronts – not least by tackling the diseases themselves. Working closely with African communities and local health authorities we are:
- preventing new infections of HIV and minimising its impact on people already infected
- raising awareness of tuberculosis, and how to prevent and diagnose it correctly
- educating people about the causes of malaria, its signs and symptoms
- improving maternal health
- improving access to safe water and sanitation to prevent waterborne diseases
