Staff of ABM University Health Board can donate the change from their payslip every month to support the activities of the Health Links. The Health Board is fully signed up to Pennies from Heaven — a charitable scheme that enables em-ployees to choose to round down their salary payments to the nearest pound, with the spare change being donated to the Health Board’s own charity – ABM Africa Health Links. Alternatively staff can choose to give a fixed amount of their choice every month through the Give As You Earn scheme. Pennies from Heaven works by rounding down your pay to the nearest pound and donating the pennies to ABM Africa Health Links. For example if your net pay was £100.34, 34 pence will be donated to charity. If you are a UK tax payer Gift Aid can be claimed on your donation, raising an ex-

tra 28% at no extra cost to you. 93% of your donation goes directly to the ABM Africa Health Links with 7% retained by Pennies from Heaven Fundraising Ltd, together with the interest earned to cover administrative costs. With Gift Aid the organisation receives £1.19 for every £1 donated – so more than your £1 goes to charity. And it’s simple to do! All you need is to fill out a sign-up form and send to your payroll department. To get a sign up form visit the Health Board intranet Homepage and click on IT and OTHER USEFUL LINKS at the top and scroll down to AFRICA LINKS on the right hand side. Alternatively you can email David.Abankwa@wales.nhs.uk and request a sign-up form.

As at the end of July 2010, 524 Health

Board staff had signed up to the scheme

providing essential recurring funding for

the activities of the Health Links.

Health Links S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 0 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

I N T H I S

I S S U E :

Pennies from Heaven -page 1

Nurse development programme in diabetes secures funding - page 2

Grant boost for over-seas lab work - page 2

Gambia-Swansea Vision 2020 Link - page 3

Gambian students’ electives in Swansea -page 3

Fundraising Activities -page 4 About ABMU Health Board Africa Health Links - page 4

Welcome to the second edition of the Health Links newsletter. It has been a

busy and productive period for our Links during which time we had a number of exchange of visits to consolidate our work. We were also successful in a number of grant bids to support the work we are doing with our partners in Sierra Leone and The Gambia. I am pleased too that, following the successful fundraising concert at the City Temple, we had another success with a concert at Margam Abbey at the end of May where the Kenfig Hill District Male Voice Choir, Noteworthy (a Maesteg Mixed Choir) and the solo artiste, Annwen Williams, gave the audience a musical night to remember. I hope you will enjoy reading this newsletter. Mr Win Griffiths - Chairman of Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board & Chairman of ABMU Health Board Africa Health Links

A word from our Chairman

P A G E 2

Ros Thomas dressing

a diabetic leg ulcer

during a visit to The

Gambia

H E A L T H L I N K S

A project hoping improve the accuracy of diagnosis of malaria and sickle cell disease in children in Si-

erra Leone has had the thumbs-up for an international grant. Staff from Swansea University’s Institute

of Life Sciences and ABM University Health Board have been successful in obtaining a grant of £30,000

from the International Health Links Funding Scheme (IHLFS) to help make essential improvements to

laboratory services at the Ola During Children’s Hospital in Freetown. During previous visits to the hos-

pital several priority areas had been identified, including improving diagnostic procedures, quality con-

trol and instrument maintenance. The project is planned to last two years and will be focused on im-

proving the skills of staff in Sierra Leone in diagnosing common diseases such as malaria, urinary infec-

tions and neonatal jaundice.

A scoping visit was carried out by Dr Angela Allen, Post-Doctoral Researcher and Honorary Lecturer at

the Institute of Life Sciences and Lisa Wakeman, Chief Biomedical Scientist at the Pathology Depart-

ment, Singleton Hospital. Dr Allen who is heading the project said: “The

development of the hospital’s laboratory and diagnostic services has

been highlighted as an urgent priority. Laboratory staff in Sierra Leone

will benefit directly from training and capacity development and help

the hospital through better use of drugs and other health resources.

Our own staff will develop their expertise in supporting laboratories in

resource poor environments. Depending on our progress, the partner-

ship could seek to extend the initiative to other laboratories in West Africa and maybe even use Ola

During as a training centre.”

Staff from Sierra Leone will visit South Wales to look at how our laboratories work, while training in

procedures and protocols will be give by medical experts at ABM and Swansea University. Laboratory

equipment will also be shipped overseas.

Nurse development programme in diabetes secures funding

A project aimed at sharing diabetes know-how with nurses in The Gambia has been awarded £6,400 by the Welsh Assembly Govern-ment. The funding will support exchange visits for staff working in diabetes in both Swansea and Gambia. The staff will work together focusing on wound care, auditing and the development of patient information posters. It is hoped this training will build on the suc-cess of the previous project which provided educational resources, via e-Learning, on the management of the diabetic foot. Two nurses from The Gambia will be visiting Swansea in September. They will observe how patients with diabetes are managed in Swan-

sea and develop an educational module to be used as a reference tool back home. Ros Thomas, ABMU Health Board Deputy Head of Podiatry, who is heading the project said: “Type 2 diabetes and its associated foot disease is increasing globally. We hope that through this project we can share our experience in managing this condition with our colleagues from The Gambia”

Grant Boost for Vital Overseas Lab Work

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

A team from the Ophthalmology Department of Single-ton Hospital, Swansea visited the Sheikh Zayad Re-gional Eye Care Centre (SZRECC) from 27th November to 4th Dec 2009. The team of five included Stella Elliott- Ophthalmology Nurse and Link Coordinator, Mr Mike Austin - Glaucoma Consultant, Mrs Sue Pickering –Clinical Nurse Specialist, Huw Bellamy – Optometrist and Paul Lawrance from Medical Physics. Their remit was to work with the team from SZRECC and train them in the management of glaucoma and to provide training for the SZRECC equipment technician. They also took along ophthalmology equipment includ-ing three applanators to train nursing and medical staff to measure Intra Ocular Pressure. Paul Lawrance trained the technician to maintain the applanators.

They had a very successful week delivering clinical care as well as giving formal teaching on management of glaucoma and clinical audit. Mr Paul Lawrance was able to repair many pieces of equipment not only in SZRECC but also in the Secondary Eye Care Centres across The Gambia the and provided training to their technicians on equipment maintenance. This trip marked the end of the first year of the Eye Links Activity Plan. During this year a bond has been estab-lished between the two departments as well as the building up professional relationships. .

Gambia-Swansea Vision 2020 Eye Link

Gambian Students Electives in Swansea Four Gambian final year medical students visited Swansea from 7th June to the 2nd July. Below is their account of the visit and the benefits they’ve had from taking part in the elective attachment: The thought of coming to a Wales for electives clouded our minds with so many questions. Will the weather be harsh to us? Will patients be welcoming? One thing which relieved us was the good experience previous Gam-bian students had in Swansea. On arrival in Swansea, we were warmly welcomed. The staff of School of Medi-cine at Singleton and Morriston hospitals as well as the patients we met made us feel at home. We were impressed at the various clinics we attended, especially by doctor-patient relationship, team work and patient awareness. We however realised that information that patients get about their condi-tion off the internet can be misleading and create problems for their doctor. Many patients read about their condition on the internet. This can provide them with misleading information and cause prob-lems for the doctor. We found the journal club very useful as we have very little experi-ence of reading journals back home. Use of manikins in the clinical skills sessions was helpful for students to learn more quickly and with less stress. Overall we had a wonderful experience.

Huw Bellamy providing clinical training in The Gambia

Gambian students with Prof Allen and Claire Cowell of Swansea School of Medicine

Fundraising Activities On Saturday 27th March 2010 we had a successful concert at the City Temple, Dyfatty Street, Swansea. Cwmtawe Music Club performed a variety of classical and contemporary pieces including the William Tell Overture and a Michael Jackson medley. Harpists Hafwen, Branwen and Rhiannon Lewis played a med-ley of traditional Welsh tunes. Singleton Singers, an all ladies choir gave an excellent performance with a par-ticularly accomplished version of “The Water is Wide”. Nigerian soloist Isioma Ikediashi gave the event an African flavour with an amazing performance of two songs in Yoruba and Calabar (Nigerian languages). The final act on the night was Dance Fit Wales with an energetic dance performance. Over £1000 was raised on the night On Saturday May 29th 2010, we had another concert in Margam Abbey. Kenfig Hill Male Voice Choir and Notewor-thy, a mixed choral ensemble from Maesteg, along with solo artist, Annwen Williams, provided an excellent eve-ning of high quality choral and solo singing.

Some 150 people attended the concert and over £800 was raised towards

the work of Health links.

Cwmtawe Music Club

About ABMU Health Board Africa Health Links ABMU Health Board Africa Health Links is an organisation within the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board. It is made up of staff from the Health Board and Swansea Medical School who have developed partnerships with individuals and institutions in our partner countries in Africa (currently Sierra Leone and the Gambia). Our partner institutions currently are: Sierra Leone: Ola During Children’s Hospital and Princess Christian Maternity Hospital, Freetown The Gambia: University of Gambia Medical School, Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital, Banjul, Sheikh Zayad Re-

gional Eye Care Centre Contact information If you would like more information about the Links or would like to contribute to the work of the Links either finan-cially or by volunteering your time and/or expertise please contact any of the following: Dr David Abankwa, Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine, Old Personnel Building, Morriston Hospital, Swansea SA6 6EF. Telephone 01792 703426 Email David.Abankwa@abm-tr.wales.nhs.uk Prof Stephen Allen, Professor of Paediatrics and International Health, Room 314 Grove Building, School of Medi-cine, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP. Tel 01792 513483; Email s.j.allen@swansea.ac.uk Mrs Becky Gammon, Clinical Nurse Manager, Accident & Emergency Department, Princess of Wales Hospital, Coity Road, Bridgend CF31 1RQ. Telephone: 01965 752397 Email Becky.gammon@abm-tr.wales.uk Donations: If you would like to make a donation by cheque to the Links, please make it payable to “ABMU Health Board”, write “ABM Africa Health Links” on the back and send to any of the contacts above Useful websites Gambia Swansea Vision 2020 Eye Link: www.gambia-swansea-eye-link.org

Swansea Gambia Link: http://sgl.swanih.org

Tropical Health and Education Trust: www.thet.org