If you are planning on volunteering overseas on a Link programme for 7 to 24 months before March 2011, or have volunteered for 7 to 24 months since April 2008, you may be eligible for assistance with your pension contributions.

You will need to return to public sector employment for at least six months after returning to be a part of the scheme.

Find out more on the VSO website or contact Rachel Schofield (rach@thet.org) for more information and an application form.

East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham
4th November 2010, 9.30-16.30

A platform for learning from the experiences of practitioners, the UK Health Links Conference 2010 will explore good practice in health and development, examine the innovative ways in which Links are addressing the challenges in global health and look at the benefits of linking to UK health professionals.

Highlights

• Setting the UK and global context of partnerships
• Explore the UK benefits of Links
• Share and learn with case studies sessions
• Discover how Links are developing innovative approaches
• Network and meet like-minded global health professionals

Book your place now!

To register download the registration form or email info@thet.org.
Registration fees are £25 (£15 for students). Register early before 1st August 2010 and pay only £20 (£10 students).

With thanks to the Garfield Weston Foundation

THET was thrilled to have these two talented artists perform at the St Mary’s-at-Hill Church in London on 3 July, 2009. This magnificent concert has been captured on CD and is now available for your enjoyment. The Baillies have kindly donated the rights of the CD to THET, and all proceeds will go towards our vital work to improve global healthcare for some of the poorest communities in the world.

Here at THET, we receive so many requests for support from our partners overseas. Though we wish we could answer every call for help, without the proper funds to carry out the work, these needs go unmet. By purchasing this CD you will help us to ensure that health workers have the skills, knowledge and resources they need to deliver effective health services and improve healthcare for some of the poorest communities in the world. Support and purchase this wonderful CD by contacting us on 020 7290 3892 or info@thet.org.

Dear Listeners,

The concert we played and these recordings are our contributions to THET. Thank you for supporting this wonderful charity further by buying the CD. Do stay in touch! To find out about news, upcoming performances and to join our mailing lists please visit www.maxbaillie.com for Max, or www.baillie.de for Sandy.

We enjoyed making these sounds and hope you enjoy listening to them!

Best Wishes,

Max and Sandy

Tracks include:

Mozart Duo in G, kv423 (originally for violin and viola)
1. I. Allegro 5:20
2. II. Adagio 3:27
3. III. Rondeau, Allegro 5:38
B. Martinu Duo no. 1 (for violin and cello)*
4. I. Preludium 4:10
5. II. Rondo 8:02
J. S. Bach, selections from the Two-Part Inventions BWV 772 – 786 (originally for keyboard)
6. No. 3 in D major 1:09
7. No. 4 in D minor 0:52
8. No. 5 in Eb major 1:28
9. No. 6 in E major 2:20
10. No. 8 in F major 1:44
11. No. 9 in F minor 2:36
12. No. 12 in A major 1:16
13. No. 13 in A minor 1:10
14. Improvisation (based on Bach, Merula and West African lute music, using live loop recording)* 9:29
15. Mozart Sonata in D kv 576 1st Movement 4:23

*From live concert

All recordings made for THET on 6th July 2009, St Mary-at-Hill Church, London EC3R 8EE.

Alexander (Sandy) Baillie
Alexander Baillie is recognised as one of the leading cellists of his generation, playing as soloist with orchestras across the world including numerous premieres, recordings and broadcasts. He is professor of cello at the Bremen Hochschule fuer Kunst und Musik, and at the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Max Baillie
As a multi-instrumentalist skilled in diverse musical genres, Max leads an exciting professional life which includes classical and pop, concert hall and festival stages. He has directed a number of cross-genre collaborations involving African music and Brazilian dance, and recently premiered his own piece for electric violin and orchestra, Mirrors in Time.

Grants are being made available to support projects run by long-term partnerships, or ‘Health Links’, between UK health institutions and their counterparts in developing countries. The deadline for the second round of Start-up and Project grants is 5:00pm on Monday, 31 May 2010. Grants will be awarded from the beginning of August 2010.

To apply for the IHLFS, please visit www.britishcouncil.org/learning-healthlinks.

For further application details, please contact the British Council at healthlinks@britishcouncil.org.

The IHLFS works closely with the new UK International Health Links Centre (IHLC). For more information about International Health Links, please visit the IHLC’s website at www.ihlc.org.uk.

For more information about THET and Health Links please contact Rachel on +44 (0)20 7290 3892, or by email at rach@thet.org, or Rhonwyn Cornell, Links Development Officer, at rhonwyn@thet.org, or on +44 (0)20 7290 3880.

Applications for Small Grants may be submitted at any time during the lifetime of IHLFS or until all the funding for each year is allocated.

To find out more about the types of grants available through the IHLFS, including whether your Link is in a target country, please click here.

All queries about the Scheme should be sent to the IHLFS team at HealthLinks@britishcouncil.org.

For further information and full application details and to download application documents for small grants, please visit the IHLFS webpages at www.britishcouncil.org/learning-healthlinks.

Severe shortage of trained health workers, persistent and prevalent communicable disease, a mounting burden of non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, and death and injury from road traffic accidents, violence and conflict are among the many problems our colleagues overseas must deal with on a daily basis.

Life expectancy in Ethiopia is particularly low, at 55 years for men and 58 for women and key health statistics are as follows:

• The under five mortality rate is 123/1,000 live births
• 673 per 100,000 women die in childbirth
• Only 143 hospitals and 2000 doctors in the country
• 1.4% of people aged 15-49 are living with HIV/AIDS

THET has worked in Ethiopia for 20 years, supporting skills development of frontline health workers such as nurses, midwives and health officers. Working with Health Links, THET has helped to develop and implement programmes, such as the care of chronic disease in the community and support to health facilities in lab services, management and record keeping.

One example of our work with a Health Link is the Gondar – Leicester Link, which has had around 100 exchange visits (in both directions), focusing on enhancing skills, expertise and professional capacity, as well as contributing to direct clinical services, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, hospital construction and the procurement of books.  The Link was responsible for the first clinical audit in Ethiopia, and has supported several joint research projects leading to publications in the fields of asthma and the respiratory effects of indoor pollution. Other key successes in which the Link played a significant role are: the establishment of an innovative, part-time, modular  Masters Degree in Public Health in Gondar (of almost 100 graduates, almost all continue to work in the public sector); the establishment of integrated post-graduate surgical training at Masters level in Gondar (the first outside the capital); the creation of a joint textbook of Paediatrics, including a section of international child health; the establishment of an undergraduate course in community-based physiotherapy and rehabilitation in Gondar; professional support for nursing staff, technical staff and library staff; and funding and project planning for maternity and physiotherapy units. Recently the Link was chosen as a pilot site for the WHO African Partnerships for Patient Safety initiative, an acknowledgement of its multi-disciplinary successes.

The Southern Ethiopia – Gwent Health Link also illustrates how a collaborative, responsive, innovative and sustainable partnership can ensure that the impacts overseas and the benefits at home are significant. The Link was established in 2000 with the overall aims of improving health workers’ skills and health resources in the rural districts of Yirgacheffe, Alaba and Wondogenet in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia. These aims relate to the United Nations MDGs and also reflect the objectives of the Ethiopian Government’s Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSDP) 2005/06 – 2009/10.

Health centres are the primary source of healthcare delivery in rural Ethiopia. They are staffed by health officers (a grade between nurse and doctor), nurses, midwives and laboratory technicians. A great need exists to provide these staff with access to sufficient and suitable continuing education, as well as to improve health centres’ resources and their means to transport patients (key components of Ethiopia’s current HSDP). The Link has approached these challenges in a variety of complementary ways, as demonstrated by their 2007 activities, which included:

• Playing an instrumental role in creating a pioneering Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme for health officers and a ‘train the trainers’ programme, which led to the setting up of a national CPD Taskforce and the development of a career progression plan for health officers across the region. The Link has held training sessions for laboratory science students, for nurses/midwives in emergency obstetric skills as well as training of trainers, and for health officers in emergency skills.
• Working on a long-term strategy to transform the existing peripheral health centres in Yirgacheffe, Alaba and Wondogenet districts into exemplar health centres. The Link provides resources and training for staff, and is in dialogue with community leaders to improve healthcare.
• Supporting skills training of final year health officer students through donating teaching equipment and instruments. The Link has helped to set up a well-equipped skills lab in Hwassa College for skills training in surgery, resuscitation, obstetrics and paediatrics, and has helped to set up a computer library in Hwassa University.
• Providing motorbike ambulances (the first in Ethiopia) to health centres in Yirgacheffe, Wondogenet and Alaba to transport mothers experiencing labour complications and other critically ill patients to healthcare facilities.
• Working with other Links in Wales to organise the first Wales for Africa Health Links Conference in June 2007. The Link has continued to work closely with the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, the Welsh Assembly and other Welsh Health Links in the formation of a Wales for Africa Health Links group.

You can support our vital work and help us to continue improving health outcomes in some of the poorest countries in the world. Please make a donation today, providing us with the ability to respond swiftly to the needs of our partners overseas.