Global Medical Brigades is the longest serving program of this organization. Medical Brigades clubs travel to Global Brigades’ community partners to serve local populations that suffer from inadequate health care services. Over the years Global Brigades has served thousands of community members and accumulated many best practices for delivering health care services in rural communities. Global Brigades Ghana has the advantage of hindsight and is able to learn from our Medical Brigades staff, student volunteers and community experiences. Global Medical Brigades in Ghana aims to build on what we have learned from years of running our programs in Honduras and Panama while being aware of unique environmental differences that present themselves when working in Africa.
Global Medical Brigades is developing quickly in the Central Region of Ghana. We are building relationships that will define how we interact with communities when students arrive for Medical Brigades in 2011 and beyond. UK Board member Sandra Sadoo spent 3 weeks at the University of Cape Coast Hospital working with Ghanaian doctors and nurses to gain insight into the types of services Medical Brigades will be able to provide in communities. Recommendations also come from the Mfantseman Municipal Health Management Team that oversees programs in district hospitals, rural clinics and health posts. Potential Medical Brigade program activities suggested by Ghanaian health care professionals, Global Medical Brigades staff and community members include: HIV/AIDS testing/counseling/education, malaria testing/treatment/prevention, comprehensive health education, parasite treatment, door-to-door services, women’s health, nutrition programs and water, hygiene and sanitation. We are also discussing the model that we should use. How many days should we be in each community? Should we work in central clinics? Or in rural communities? Or both?
Check out a video of a local Ghanaian clinic here!
In line with our culture as a student-led development organization, Medical Brigades in Ghana wants everyone to be a part of this discussion. We are looking for innovative systems for providing rural health care and need any ideas we can get. Feel free to contact Orion Haas (orion@globalbrigades.org) and Allen Gula (allen@globalbrigades.org) with your comments regarding Ghana Medical Brigades or anything else related to Global Brigades Ghana.
