Current Projects
Many children get little education or healthcare. This little girl is eating her daily rice and beans.
All projects are staffed by local healthcare providers with US doctors, nurses, pediatric residents and medical students spending a month or more to provide additional medical care and training as needed.
Kenya
Dunga Children's Clinic- Dunga is a very poor fishing village of 4000 people located on the banks of Lake Victoria. There are currently 1600 orphans in this small town, many afflicted with HIV and other tropical diseases. These children are in desperate need of medical care. The Dunga Children's Clinic is located at the Dunga Orphans School occupying two rooms and staffed by a full-time clinical officer who is licensed to examine, vaccinate, diagnose, and treat illnesses in children. In addition, doctors and nurses from the US can spend a month at a time to provide additional medical care. Desperately ill children who cannot be supported in this clinic will be transported to the regional hospital in nearby Kisumu.
The Dunga clinic opened on August 1, 2007 and is seeing approximately 30 to 40 patients per day.
Rwanda
We have several projects that are being started in Rwanda, the biggest of which is a Children's and Mothers' Health Center which will be located just outside of Kibungo. The clinic is being built with funds raised by the community of Fulton Missouri and Callaway County, which has joined with Kibungo as their Sister City. Fundraising for the project kicks off in September 2008 and the health center will open in the summer of 2009.
In Gashonda Rwanda, we are starting a Health Post which will serve the entire community in the area. There are no other health facilities in the district, so this will enable the people there to have access to healthcare, where now they have to walk 1-2 days to go to the doctor. The clinic site is across the street from a school and is being donated to FFTC by the government.
Tanzania
In Longido Tanzania, FFTC is establishing a health advocacy program for the Maasai people. Currently, when Maasai women go to the health clinic, there are communication barriers, as they do not speak Swahili and the staff at the clinic does not speak Ma, the Maasai's native language. Our program will provide Health Advocates to the Maasai when they visit the clinic. The advocate will speak Ma, Swahili, and English, and will be able to bridge the communication gap between the physician and patient. This will ensure that the patient understands the instructions the physician gives for follow-up care and prescription usage.
