PHARMACCESS FOUNDATION
P.O.
Box 635
Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania
Phone
: +255744972946
Email: g.haverkamp@pharmaccess.org
Dear
Sweet All,
PharmAccess
Foundation is an NGO established in the
Netherlands and supporting the Ministry
of Health of Tanzania in its effort to
role out a national HIV/AIDS Care and
Treatment Program.
The
aim of the program is to provide free
antiretroviral medication to all 400,000
HIV+ patients who need treatment by 2008.
PharmAccess
has worked on HIV/AIDS programs in Tanzania
since 1995, starting with programs to
prevent HIV transmission from mother-to-child.
Since
then PharmAccess has collaborated closely
with the delivery ward of Muhimbili
Hospital in Dar es Salaam.
Muhimbili is the Academic Medical Centre
of Tanzania.
All
difficult cases are referred to this hospital,
so there are many complications with mothers
and babies. 80-100
children are born here every day. Mothers
stay somewhere in or near the hospital
,
to feed their children every 3 hours.
Newborns
with problems stay in one of the four
wards. In two wards there are children
with life threatening complications. There are 2
or 3 children per bed, since beds are not
enough.
Children
with infectious diseases stay together
in a third ward, to prevent that they
infect non-infected children.
In
the fourth ward there are babies without
immediate medical problems. These are
the children of HIV-positive mothers,
and children who have been abandoned immediately
after birth (two or three children per week).
These orphans stay a few weeks in the
hospital until they go to an orphanage. In
Europe or the U.S. most children would
be kept in an incubator. Muhimbili
Hospital however has no incubators.
Three or four heaters per ward keep the rooms
at body temperature, i.e. over 35 D Celsius
/ 95 DFahrenheit.The
heaters are not a bad alternative for
the incubators, but they run day-in, day-out.
They are seriously worn-out. Poverty is
everywhere.
The
delivery department of Muhimbili
Hospital moved to a new building
in January 2006 but there are no funds
to replace equipment, beds and furniture.
Mr. Geert Haverkamp, Country Director
of PharmAccess in Tanzania and Board of
Advisors Member of Starfish,
has started a small campaign to replace
ten heaters, beds and some furniture.
Starfish has sponsored the purchase of
these heaters, but also additional support
is badly needed to face other emergencies
and needs. Please
do not hesitate to contact Geert Haverkamp
if you want more information about this
campaign or about PharmAccess activities
in Tanzania.
Mr.
G. Haverkamp
PharmAccess Foundation
PO Box 635
Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania
Tel +255744972946
Email: g.haverkamp@pharmaccess.org
Contributions
are accepted via credit card procedure,
by donating on this St*rfish page (click
the link herebelow):
Credit
card donations
In
case of credit card donation for this
Tanzania Project, after having performed
it, please send also an email informing
about your support, to:
and to:
g.haverkamp@pharmaccess.org
You
can also support through bank transfers, as follows:
-
Beneficiary: G. Haverkamp, Amsterdam (The
Netherlands)
- Bank: Postbank, Amsterdam
- BIC Code : PSTBNL21
- IBAN code: NL02PSTB0003279660
(please
always mention the IBAN code in your transfer
instructions to your bank, as well as
'Tanzania Project' as a reference).
2008 Update
The post natal ward (Baby Ward) of Muhimbili is moving to a renovated building in February.
from...
to...
They have ordered 15 cots to increase the number of beds there. So far there are 70 cots and sometimes there are 200 children in the ward. So most of the cots have 3 children. This is a very bad situation that needs to be improved. At least 130 cots are urgently needed.
Muhimbili is a referral hospital, so many babies have serious problems, including infections. It is easy to understand that 3 children per cot is a dramatic situation.
The renovated ward has more space, so more beds can be placed there.
Starfish is gathering funds to be used to buy more cots and oxygen pumps. Each bed/cot cost approx. $250 (or Euro 180). Each room needs 1 or 2 pumps. Currently there are 2 pumps for 5 rooms.
Help us!
Thank
You!
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Events
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and approved
by Rutger are always indicated in this page.
Should
you hear about a fundraiser organized in The Rutger
Hauer Starfish Association name not mentioned
here, please contact us immediately
because it means that the fundraiser has not been
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Starfish Association targeted areas.
