THET, in partnership with the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Nursing, would like to hear your views on international health volunteering. Even if you are not interested personally, we’d really like to know your opinions.

This short survey will help us assess awareness and perspectives in the run-up to our Global Health Partnerships event on 12 June.

Your answers are treated as confidential and analysis is done on an anonymous basis, so there will be no come-back to you, unless you explicitly agree and leave us your name.

Please take 10 minutes to complete our survey

Click HERE

If you work as a health professional in another role, we will be seeking your views in due course – please look out for invitations from THET or your professional body.

THET, a UK-based international development organisation, today announced the first 24 grantees to receive funding under the new Health Partnership Scheme, a four year programme which will enable more British health professionals to share their skills with their counterparts in developing countries through teaching, training and practical assistance.

The successful organisations will implement projects across 16 different countries in Africa and Asia and focus on a wide-range of areas, including specialist training to improve the quality of emergency care for infants and children; better training and stronger professional associations for midwifes and nurses to reduce the number of women dying during childbirth; community care for people living with HIV/AIDS and other life-limiting illnesses;

Speaking at an event hosted by the Royal College of Midwives to mark International Day of the Midwife, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said:

“British nurses, midwives and medical teams are among the best in the world. The Health Partnership Scheme allows us to harness their expertise to help give developing countries the skills needed to improve the health of some of the world’s poorest people.

It is an international scandal that one thousand women die every day in pregnancy or childbirth and tackling the tragic scale of maternal and child deaths is a key priority for the British Government.”

With a shortage of 4.25 million health workers around the world, the growing gap between the supply of appropriately trained health workers and the demand for their services is a key issue for underdevelopment and poverty worldwide.

Professor Sir Andy Haines, Professor of Public Health and Primary Care at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Chair of THET Trustees, welcomed the announcement and said

“The Health Partnership Scheme provides a truly exciting opportunity to bring together the UK’s track record of engagement and thinking in international development, and to capitalise on the outstanding skills of NHS staff. The projects announced today will help develop strong, sustained partnerships that enable mutual learning between UK health professionals and their colleagues overseas, leading to both near and long term improvement in the quality of health services abroad and at home.”

Announcing the successful grants, Jane Cockerell, Chief Executive at THET said;

“We are delighted by the quality and range of these HPS grants and look forward to supporting the UK and developing country partners in their delivery of effective, sustainable health workforce training and development projects”

The following organisations have been successful in receiving the largest grants (Multi-Country Partnership Grants and Long-term Volunteering Grants).

• Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
• Royal College of Midwives
• Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Science, University of Oxford
• University of Edinburgh
• The Kambia Appeal
• Voluntary Service Overseas
• Liverpool-Mulago Partnership

A full list of all the grantees, including project details is available below

Full list of projects here

This one day conference and workshop will highlight the vital role UK nurses and midwives play in health partnerships that improve healthcare for some of the world’s poorest people.

Speakers will include nurses and midwives who are involved with health partnership work overseas and the day will equip participants with networks, information and guidance about getting involved.

Participants will receive a certificate confirming attendance.

Jointly hosted by THET, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives

Suitable for registered practitioners only. Tickets are £30 each.

Date: 12 June 2012

Time: 9am – 4pm

Venue: The Roben’s Suite, Guy’s Hospital, London SE1 9RT

REGISTER HERE

THET is pleased to announce a call for applications for Medium Paired Institutional Medical Equipment Grants.

The grants form part of the Health Partnership Scheme (HPS), a four-year programme which funds Health Partnerships to carry out training and capacity-building projects in low-income countries.

Most studies suggest an estimated 50-80% of medical equipment in developing countries is out of service.

The Medium PIP Medical Equipment Grant funding stream is available for clearly defined projects run by institutional partnerships where the ultimate goal is to improve the state of medical equipment. These grants are not intended to fund the provision of medical equipment. They are designed to increase the capacity of developing countries to maintain and manage existing equipment through skills transfer and capacity development of maintenance staff, clinical staff and administrators.

THET will be running a pre-application online workshop (or ‘webinar’) on the 16th and again on the 19th April from 2-4pm GMT to support this application process. This workshop will explain the context of the Medical Equipment Grants within the Health Partnership Scheme, and will give specific advice and guidance about the application process, including the reporting requirements and expectations for grantees.  More information and details on how to register will follow.

The deadline for applications is the 6th June 2012.

More Information and How to Apply >>>

THET is pleased to announce a call for applications for Large Paired Institutional Partnership Grants.

The grants form part of the Health Partnership Scheme (HPS), a four-year programme which funds Health Partnerships to carry out training and capacity-building projects in low-income countries.

Large PIP grants are available to single or multiple partnerships between UK institutions and single or multiple low-income country institutions. Projects should be single, time-bound projects where clear outcomes can be achieved within the timeframe proposed and within the budget proposed.

Volunteer Bursaries
Applicants for a Large PIP grant may also apply for a PIP Volunteer Bursary of up to £15,000 for 12 months.  The grants are for sending a member of the UK team to the partner for a minimum of six months, where that volunteer’s long-term presence will help maximise the project’s impact.  Large PIP projects must not be reliant on the award of a PIP Volunteer Bursary.

Workshops
THET will be running five workshops across the country throughout March, to support this application process. These workshops will give specific advice and guidance about the application process, including the reporting requirements and expectations for grantees. More information and details on how to register is available at the link below.

More Information & How to Apply >>>

The grants form part of the Health Partnership Scheme (HPS) which is a four-year programme that funds health partnerships to carry out training and capacity-building projects in low-income countries.  The Scheme is funded by the UK Department for International Development.  It is managed by THET in a consortium with HLSP to deliver the programme.

What are Health Partnerships?

Health Partnerships (or “Health Links”) are formalised voluntary partnerships between health institutions in developing countries and their counterparts in the UK. They can support a wide variety of activities to help strengthen the training of health staff and enhance the capacity of health systems in developing countries. Partnerships also benefit the UK partners, developing skills and increasing understanding of global health issues.

Start-up Grants

The Start-up Grants will help to facilitate the development of new and effective health partnerships between UK institutions and their counterparts overseas. They are designed to meet the costs of the activities necessary to establish and formalise a successful partnership and are up to the value of £5,000. Applications can be submitted at any point during the HPS.

Eligibility for Start-up grants

• Grant recipients are eligible institutions as stated in the Eligibility Criteria section of the grant overview
• Grant recipients are based in eligible countries (see overview)
• Applicants must show demonstrable commitment to forming a long-term Partnership
• The partnership must be less than 2 years old
• It will be expected that the start-up grant will fund a needs assessment. The results of this needs assessment will form part of the final report and should inform whether the partnership will be formalised with a Memorandum of Understanding.

How to Apply

Download the Start-up Grant Overview and the Application Form. Applications can be submitted at any time during the Health Partnership Scheme.

If you have any questions, please contact the HPS team on 020 7290 3895 or hps@thet.org