Nilesh Goswami's fundraising page

[p]Hi, thanks for visiting my page.[/p][p] The King’s Centre for Global Health operates a number of health partnerships most notably in Sierra Leone and Somaliland. I visited Sierra Leone three times and Somaliland once last year and saw at first hand some of our ground breaking work in supporting the strengthening of health services in these countries. In Sierra Leone we have been at forefront on tackling Ebola during 2014-15. As Sierra Leone moves out of an emergency Ebola response in 2016 our efforts will focus on recovery and helping some of the worst health indicators in the world; there is still much work to do even though much of the media attention has moved on. Our work in Somaliland is much less heralded but no less impressive. For 15 years we have been supporting a country re-establish its health system in the aftermath of a brutal civil war which destroyed much of the health service. We have played a key role in training doctors and nurses using an innovative technology system to link King’s volunteers to local students and health professionals in Somaliland. [/p][p]I am running my first ever Marathon to prove to myself I can do it but more importantly to raise funds for our health partnerships. I would be very grateful for any donation you are able to make, however small. You can read more about our partnership work and donate here. Thank you for your support.[/p][p]I have provided more information on two of our health partnerships below including a couple of video links.[/p][p]Our health partnerships support the development of healthcare systems in several low to middle income countries. Through a volunteer workforce we assist with the training and education of health professionals, service delivery, policy and research for individuals and institutions. Our work is hosted by King’s College London, but it relies heavily on volunteer input and charitable funding.[/p][p][b][span=text-decoration: underline;]Sierra Leone:[/span][/b][b] [/b]We established a programme in 2011. At that time, Sierra Leone had only two skilled healthworkers per 10,000 population, ranking fourth from bottom among 49 priority low-and-middle-income countries.  During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, King’s volunteers helped manage over 1,100 suspected, and over 650 confirmed cases of Ebola. Our partnered isolation units, dealt with over 2,500 suspected cases; which represented 14% of all Ebola cases in Sierra Leone. Our team has now grown to 30 people in country and continues to help with recovery of the country’s healthcare system. Our work and approach in Sierra Leone is highlighted in the following video clip: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVyIkDvrQQ4&feature=youtu.be]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVyIkDvrQQ4&feature=youtu.be[/url][/p][p][b][span=text-decoration: underline;]Somaliland, [/span][/b]is in the Horn of Africa, has some of the world’s worst health indicators, with a health system beset by problems, and fewer than 200 doctors, many of whom have limited training, serving a population of 3.5 million. Despite this, optimism surrounds Somaliland, King’s has been working there for 15 years.  When volunteers first visited in 2000, there were no medical schools, no regulatory body, only one nurse training course and few hospitals. Since then, King’s 240 expert volunteers have donated 21,000 hours, undertaken over 70 trips and supported the over 800 online teaching sessions.  Our successes include:[/p][ul][li]Examining every doctor and BSc nurse that has graduated since the 1988-91 war. [/li][li]Introducing mental health into the undergraduate medical curriculum in 2008 and delivering psychiatric training to every doctor that has graduated since.  [/li][li]Becoming the first organisation to deliver an on-going programme of real-time, interactive online learning in a fragile state, through the MedicineAfrica platform.[/li][/ul][p]Our work and approach in Somaliland is highlighted in the following video clip:[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFJ1SNwwsao&feature=youtu.be]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFJ1SNwwsao&feature=youtu.be[/url] .[/p][p][b]Any funds raised in this appeal will be used across all of our health partnerships.[/b][/p][p] Through Virgin Money Giving, you can sponsor me and donations will be quickly processed and passed to charities. Virgin Money Giving is a not for profit organisation and will claim gift aid on a charity's behalf where the donor is eligible for this. I really appreciate all your support and thank you for any donations.[/p]