Hi All,

If you are reading this then thank you. I am delighted that you are taking enough interest to find my page. I am unbelievably excited about the journey I am about to undertake and I am grateful for any and all of the support I have received to get me here, from friends, family, colleagues and others. I really appreciate anyone who helps me raise money for Voluntary Services Overseas so that they can continue to help others undertake these projects in a useful and sustainable way.

Why I am doing this:

I have wanted to be a doctor since I was 4 years old and dreamt of working in International Development since I was about 18 years old. They have been my 2 main ambitions in life and I have worked really hard to make them happen. After qualifying in 2002, I have listened to advice from my supervisors, senior colleagues and different agencies that provide support to developing countries and I have waited until I have enough experience to be useful! Finally, it’s happening! I believe it is vital that there is a bit more balance and equality in the world and this is the best way I can think of for me to contribute a small amount to work towards that.

Where I am going and what I am doing:

On the 1 February 2012, I am going to work as a senior paediatrician in a town called Gondar (very Lord of the Rings), in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. I'll be helping to improve the current services for children and babies in one of the main referral hospitals in Ethiopia and assist in the teaching and training of the junior doctors and medical students there. They have a medical school and are a university hospital, but are still extremely limited on resources. There are 40 beds on the paediatric wards with at least that number of children sleeping on floors under the beds as well due to lack of space. Up to 100 students come through the ward each day, needing teaching and training and there are outpatient ‘clinics’, (essentially a place where patients present with emergency or chronic conditions), a Labour Ward and a Neonatal Unit. Their facilities are overcrowded and many of the things we take for granted here are unavailable eg piped oxygen, good sanitation and medical supplies. The hospital serves a population of 4 million people and has a total workforce of 500 staff – compare that to University Hospital Leicester that serves a population of about 1 million and has a staff of approximately 12,000.

Who I am going with:

I have thoroughly researched different ways for me to work in this field and I decided to go with Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) because I believe in their goals and the way they are trying to achieve them. They co-ordinate people from around the world with different skills and place them with partner organisations in those countries that are poorest and in most need of support. They plan integrated programmes in these countries that maximise the use of resources and people and produce sustainable change by placing people with the relevant skills at all levels in the country - from policy writing support in government placements to advocacy experts who ensure the right messages and information are disseminated upwards, right down to grass roots level doctors, teachers etc to train and support the people providing those services in the countries already. They are a charity and in the current climate need as much help as possible from their volunteers to contribute to raising the funds needed to continue their work and every volunteer is asked to raise £900 before they go to their placement - obviously, anything raised above this amount is even better!

If you want to read more about them here is a link to their website: http://www.vso.org.uk

What I need you to do:

Fundraising is where I need your help now. I thought of doing some sort of challenge, but I can't run far with my flat feet and bunky knees and I'm dangerous cycling. To be honest, all the preparation and training I'm doing for this plus what I'll be doing when I get there is a big challenge in itself.....BUT if anyone would prefer me to do something more amusing, frightening, messy or physically demanding in return for sponsoring me, post your suggestions and I'll see what I can do! Any buddies willing to join me in such escapades very welcome........I have appropriately emblazoned T-shirts, posters and more....

Any contributions will be gratefully received, it doesn’t matter how much. I know everyone’s a bit short around this time of year and in the current climate, but even £1 will be another step towards my target. I don’t want people to feel pressured into donating large amounts or feel bad for not donating – just reading this and talking about it to others will help too.

(I've removed the amount bit from the screen so only your message and the fact you have donated will show as I think thats more discreet . . . . . . . So if you want people to know how much you've donated - put it in the message please)

Where the money goes:

The money you give will not fund me directly but goes into the VSO 'pot' that they distribute according to areas of greatest need. This is the best way for them to receive contributions as it allows them to direct it into any of the programmes that they co-ordinate rather than just to a specific project.

Or you could look at it that you will be helping me survive whilst I’m there – I’ll get £100 a month wage to live off in Ethiopia - so £900 would be the equivalent of paying me for 9 months whilst I'm out there!!

Examples from VSO website of the projects donations help to support:

·         Physiotherapists training local students and professionals in rehabilitation for amputees in Ethiopia

·         HIV and AIDS specialists in Tanzania, training local professionals and students to prevent HIV in newborns

·         Teacher-trainers in Nepal, establishing access to good education for the poorest children

·         IT Specialist in Nigeria establishing computer access for blind and partially sighted people and training local providers

·         Advocacy specialist in India helping local organisations and the government rescue poor girls from domestic slavery and abuse

 

There are 100’s more of these....

 

Thanks very much!

Jo x

My email if you want to contact me: drjosiejo@gmail.com

My blog address if you want to keep up to date (ish) with what I'm up to whilst I'm there: 

The Justgiving bit:

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

 

Some info on Ethiopia and the problems they have:

Ethiopia is the 4th poorest country in the world and has some of the highest rates of infant mortality and maternal deaths. Some of the problems are due to a lack of trained professionals and the retention of doctors with enough knowledge and experience in Ethiopia. 

Some Articles and statistics regarding this:

In 2007 Clemens and Pettersson found 30% of all Ethiopian doctors work abroad. Wikipaedia quotes "Brain drain has cost the African continent over $4 billion in the employment of 150,000 expatriate professionals annually." According to UNDP, "Ethiopia lost 75 per cent of its skilled workforce between 1980 and 1991," which harms the ability of such nations to get out of poverty. Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia are believed to be the most affected. In the case of Ethiopia, the country produces many excellent doctors, but there are more Ethiopian doctors in Chicago than there are in Ethiopia.

Berhan Y ‘Medical doctors profile in Ethiopia: production, attrition and retention. In memory of 100-years Ethiopian modern medicine & the new Ethiopian millennium.’ Ethiop Med J. 2008 Jan;46 Suppl 1:1-77

In the 23 years period (1984-2006), the highest and lowest physician to population ratios in the public sector were found to be in 1989 (1:28,000) and 2006 (1:118,000), respectively. In 2006, the physician to population ratio in Amhara, Oromia and SNNPR regional states was computed to be 1:280,000, 1:220,000, and 1:230,000, respectively. The physician deficit analysis in the last 23 years in relation to the WHO standard for developing countries (1:10,000) revealed the lowest record at the national and regional states in the last 12-years. Average physician to hospital ratio in five regional states in December 2006 was 3.6 (Tigray), 4.3 (Amhara), 6.1 (Oromia) and 5.3 (SNNPR). As the December 2006 direct interview with 76 public hospitals outside Addis Ababa showed, there was no specialist in 36 hospitals and no doctor at all in 3 hospitals. Seven public hospitals located in big regional states' town took the lions share of medical doctors. In short, in December 2006, 80.3% of regional hospitals were equipped with 0-2 specialists of one kind, and in 48.7% there were 0-3 General practitioners. Highest medical doctors annual attrition rates (20%-54.3%) were found in 1991-1992, 1998, 2002-2006. In general, in 20 years period (1987-2006), 73.2% of Ethiopian medical doctors left the public sector mainly due to attractive remuneration in overseas countries and local NGOs/private sectors. The number of postgraduate programme in Addis Ababa, Jimma and Gondar medical schools in December 2006 was 22, 12 and 3, respectively.

Some other interesting (and appalling) facts and figures for those who may be interested:

In June 2011, the United Nations Population Fund released a report on The State of the World's Midwifery. It contained new data on the midwifery workforce and policies relating to newborn and maternal mortality for 58 countries. The 2010 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Ethiopia is 470. This is compared with 589.7 in 2008 and 967.7 in 1990. The under 5 mortality rate, per 1,000 births is 109 and the neonatal mortality as a percentage of under 5's mortality is 34. In Ethiopia the number of midwives per 1,000 live births is 0.4 and 1 in 40 shows us the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women.  

1 in 40!!! I struggle to understand how massive that is. At least 40 of my friends have children, so in Ethiopia, one of them would now be dead.

According to the Central Statistics Agency of Ethiopia, as of 2004, 28% of the total population of Amhara had access to safe drinking water, of whom 19.89% were rural inhabitants and 91.8% were urban. Values for other reported common indicators of the standard of living for Amhara as of 2005 include the following: 17.5% of the inhabitants fall into the lowest wealth quintile; adult literacy for men is 54% and for women 25.1%; and the Regional infant mortality rate is 94 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which is greater than the nationwide average of 77; at least half of these deaths occurred in the infants’ first month of life.