annual report 2013

[INDEX]
1. Identity
1.1 About us
1.2 Values
1.3 Mission
1.4 Governance
1.5 Strategies
2. Social relationship: the stakeholders
2.1 Beneficiaries of projects in Africa
2.2 Beneficiaries of projects in Italy
2.3 People who work for World Friends
2.4 Volunteers
2.5 Donors
2.6 Network with other NGOs
2.7 Partnerships
3. Projects and activities
3.1 Kenya
3.1.1 Neema Project
3.1.2 Health Education
3.1.3 Professional development
3.1.4 Medical Camp
3.1.5 Prevention and Rehabilitation of disability
3.1.6 Support for Mbagathi Hospital, Nairobi
3.1.7 Right to Health for Refugees
3.1.8 Kajiado Project
3.1.9 Research
3.1.10 Distance adoption: Sara project
3.1.11 Banjuka Project – Music and Dance School
3.1.12 Slum Film Festival
3.2 Uganda
3.2.1 Uganda Project
3.3 Tanzania
3.3.1 Pemba Project
3.4 Italy
3.4.1 Education for Development
3.4.2 Scientific Activities
3.4.3 Youth project
3.4.4 SCREAM project
3.4.5 Campaign Women +
3.4.6 Turin – Nairobi, healt tuiton in schools
4. Communications and fund-raising
4.1 Objectives and Tools
4.2 Campaigns
4.3 Knowing Africa: events and initiatives
5. Economic dimension
5.1 Analysis of funds raised
5.2 Utilization of funds raised
All the photos appearing in this publication are the property of World Friends and are protected by
copyright:  Archivio World Friends.
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[1. IDENTITY]
1.1 About us
Amici del Mondo - World Friends Onlus - is an Italian Association for Cooperation for Development
founded in 2001 with the aim of working for the integral promotion of mankind in all parts of the world,
contributing to the implementation of the principles established in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
Its main office is in Nairobi (Kenya), where the major part of its activities take place. It has its
registered offices and administrative office in Rome, and regional offices run by volunteer personnel in
Valle D’Aosta, Piemonte, Liguria, Lombardia, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany,
Lazio and Sicilia, which have developed over the years, and whose expansion is planned to extend
throughout the entire peninsula.
World Friends is a Non-governmental Organization (NGO) recognized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, and is officially registered in Kenya as an international NGO.
1.2 Our values
The founding members of World Friends were inspired to create an organisation strongly rooted in its
area of work, ready to carry out projects in response to the needs of the local population, and with
their full involvement. It is for this reason that World Friends utilises local personnel above all, with
minimum recourse to expatriate personnel.
The activities of the Association are developed by way of an in-depth study of local situations from the
historical, social, economic and cultural points of view, thus guaranteeing full respect for traditional
values. World Friends is strongly convinced that only with the full participation of local populations and
through improving the value of human resources in the territory can sustainable development in
African society be guaranteed.
In line with its inspiring principles, the organization of the Association is functional, pared down and
firmly restricted to the indispensable in order not to be a burden on the funds raised for project
implementation. On average, 90% of funds raised go directly to the projects.
1.3 Mission
Our choice was to start from the slums of the African mega-cities, not only because of the extreme
need there, but also because the slums make up the people’s towns, their communities. At the basis of
each and everyone of our initiatives is the sense of being together and working together.
World Friends interventions are aimed at improving health, social and professional conditions for the
most vulnerable populations in the south of the world.
The final goal remaining is the promotion of autonomy in the community where the Association is
active, and for this reason each project gives great importance to the professional training of local
personnel.
1.4 Governance
The General Assembly of Members, the Executive Committee, the President, and the Board of Auditors
form the Association’s bodies.
The ordinary Assembly, composed of all members, and on the proposal of the Executive Committee,
deliberates the general programme of the Association, approves the annual budget and financial
statement and elects the President and components of the Executive Committee. The Extraordinary
Assembly deliberates modifications to the Act of Constitution and the Statute and on the dissolution of
the Association.
The Executive Committee, currently composed of 6 (six) members, has the following tasks: to
develop norms for the regulation of the Association; to prepare the general programme of the
Association, triennial and annual; to determine the programme of work on the basis of the guidelines
contained in the programme approved by the Assembly, promoting and coordinating activities; to
recruit dependent personnel and to stipulate employment contracts with third parties; to prepare the
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annual budgets; to deliberate on requests for new membership; to provide for the affairs of ordinary
and extraordinary administration that are not charged to the Assembly of Members.
The President, elected by the Assembly, has the task of presiding over the Executive Committee and
the Assembly itself. The President is charged with representing the Association in the face of third
parties and before the law. The President nominates from the members elected for the Executive
Committee a Secretary, a Treasurer and possible referents for specific duties (e.g. ongoing projects,
communications, fund-raising, etc.).
The Board of Auditors, or the Single Auditor, are nominated by the Assembly of members. These
Auditors are responsible for the accounting controls and legitimacy of the Association.
1.5 Strategies
The main activities of World Friends take place in the areas of Health, Education, Professional Training,
Research, Social Development. The strategic approach of World Friends is based on a number of
fundamental principles: participation of local communities and of beneficiaries in the management and
evaluation of projects; technical and professional training of local workers and of beneficiaries; social,
economic and environmental sustainability of the activities sponsored; focusing on socially vulnerable
groups of individuals; encouraging collaboration between communities, grassroots associations and
local institutions; encouraging scientific exchange and collaboration between European institutions and
institutions from developing countries.
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[2. SOCIAL RELATIONSHIP: THE STAKEHOLDERS]
2.1 Beneficiaries of projects in Africa
World Friends is currently working in Kenya (Nairobi) and in the Isinya and Kajiado districts,
Uganda (Kampala), and Tanzania (Pemba Island).
NAIROBI
Kenya's capital city has a population of around 4 million inhabitants, two-thirds of whom
live in shantytowns. The steady rise in population is accompanied by a rapid increase in
the poverty level; currently it is estimated that only 25% of the inhabitants of the slums
are in regular employment while 26% have no sources of income. Around half of the
family units are represented by single women with one or more children and there are at
least 100,000 AIDS orphans. The infant mortality rate (under 5 years of age) in the
shantytowns is 151.4/1,000 born alive (Unicef Report 2012). Life expectancy in Kenya
has decreased in the last 15 years from 57 to 46 years: AIDS is among the primary
causes.
In Kenya there is no free medical care; there is one doctor for every 20,000
inhabitants and one surgeon for every 50,000; in the shantytowns there is one doctor
for every 150,000 inhabitants. Only 15% of healthcare structures in place offer basic
obstetrical care and only 35% of births are assisted by qualified personnel; 50% of
births take place in the shantytowns without any medical assistance, resulting in a
maternal mortality rate of 706/100.000. While the prevalence of AIDS is decreasing at
the national level, adolescents and women in the Nairobi slums are still strongly
vulnerable: the incidence of transmittable diseases of maternal origin, perinatal or
nutritional as a cause of death in children is 77.2%.
The death rate for preventable diseases (such as diarrhea and respiratory disease
infections) is the highest in the country, above all in the under-5 age group. It is
calculated that for every 1,000 persons, 205 years of life are lost every year due to
premature death.
Very few people have lavatories in their homes. Public lavatories (1 for 57
inhabitants) are not free of charge and are not maintained adequately, so that the major
part of residents are obliged to fulfill their bodily needs by using plastic bags that are
then not correctly disposed of, so that the shantytown environment resembles a real
rubbish tip. There is no waste collection system, and all domestic waste is just
thrown out on the street, then blocking the open air sewage canals which take in all the
urban sewage. Even water is not free: 64% of residents without access to water in
the home have to purchase it from private sellers.
Beneficiaries
The projects of World Friends are mainly focused on populations in the shantytowns in the north-east
area of Nairobi (Korogocho, Kariobangi, Babadogo,
Mathare Valley-Eastleigh, Huruma, Kahawa, Soweto):
around 700,000 people, half of whom are under 15 years
of age.
The health problems of the beneficiaries of healthcare
interventions by World Friends are innumerable: infective
pathologies, traumas, burns, invalidity and infections
arising from non-assisted births, tumors provoked by the
very high pollution levels from rubbish dumps;
gastroenteritis and acute respiratory illnesses, especially
in children; states of permanent malnutrition, typhoid and
malaria. Tuberculosis is in a net resurgence; the number
of children with physical handicaps is high. Diagnoses of
illnesses requiring surgery and also cancer are growing,
and are inevitably delayed due to the total lack of specialist diagnosis and care services accessible to
the poor. Sexually transmitted illness are widespread, while AIDS is an ongoing scourge.
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Particular attention is given to mother and child health, with a specific programme for children with
disabilities and their families.
The Association's activities are also involved with young people in the shantytowns: activities take
place in schools to help less able children and those with serious family and social problems. WF
organizes health prevention and health education courses and training courses for teachers and school
principals. Each year these courses involve thousands of young and very young people, thanks to the
continuous activities carried out by World Friends in the shantytowns.
Among the beneficiaries of World Friends’ projects are the local personnel: each year numerous
workers (both health and social) take part in the Association's training courses, with an aim to improve
their expertise, to guarantee the duration and the autonomy of interventions, and to halt the “brain
drain” from southern countries.
ISINYA E KAJIADO
For many women in Kenya, the maternal death rate is significantly high
(560/100,000) and in Kajiado County this data is linked to a high fertility rate (>6),
meaning the the women there run this risk more frequently during their lifetimes.
Among the main causes is the inaccessibility of maternity services and health, both
pre- and post-natal, together with sociocultural factors. In the Kajiado County (an
area of Kiserian) around 50% of births take place at home, without any qualified
assistance, as the majority of deliveries take place just with the assistance of
traditional midwives (47%). The remainder part occur without any assistance
whatsoever. Healthcare services, especially pre-natal, peril-natal, post-natal and
reproductive health, are provided through healthcare structures at the fourth level
or private healthcare centers. These structures are often characterized by a lack of,
and inadequate, basic equipment, the lack of qualified personnel (1 nurse for every
7,723 inhabitants, and 1 doctor for every 76,000 inhabitants. These are concentrated in
urban areas and therefore distant from a large portion of the population, making
access to basic services costly also because of the transport required.
The instruments needed for a responsible maternity remain inaccessible to the major
part of the women, who live in poverty, and this leads to an ever greater spread of
pathologies that have a negative effect on pregnancies and on infant health, such as
anemia and malaria. In addition, hygienic practices and nutritional models are
inadequate and there is a scarce awareness of reproductive health services. Infant
mortality (<1 year) represents 60% of the total deaths under 5 years in
Kajiado County (74/1,000 born alive) .
To make it worse, health problems linked to infant nutrition are on the increase
(malnutrition, typhoid, brucellosis, anemia, diarrhea, intestinal parasites.
Beneficiaries
More than 300,000 people living in the Isinya and Kajado districts will benefit from the activities of
World Friends. Assistance is mainly focused on groups of women, young people, children (60,000
between 0 and 15 years, of whom 40,000 under 5 years) making up part of the 68% of the Kajiado
County population who live in rural areas. For economic reasons, 50% of the beneficiaries do not avail
of medical assistance.
The activities of World Friends will serve to make maternal-child services more accessible, to spread
education on reproductive and nutritional health, to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and the
coordination of existing services. Specifically, among the structures involved there are: 30 Village
Health Committees (120/240 persons), 60 Community Operators (CORPS), 500 adolescents belonging
to Clubs for Secure Health/Maternity Education ; 20 Rural Healthcare Structures (private and public);
80 Health workers.
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KAMPALA
Kampala has a population of almost 1.2 million inhabitants, 44% of whom live in the
shantytowns occupying around 25% of the urban area. Of the other 430,000 residents
in these informal settlements only 75,000 (17%) have access to running water (data
Unhabitat.org ). In fact, sewage systems are non-existent in the slums: malaria and
diarrhea are widespread among victims of all ages.
Kampala has the highest rate of infection from HIV in Uganda: 9.2% of adults
compared with 6.3% at the national level. The pandemic is fueled above all from female
prostitution: according to estimates, 47% of prostitutes are HIV-positive. The average
life expectancy in the country is 50 years: in the shantytowns it is 43 years. No
adequate health facilities exist in the slums, and there is just one doctor for 15-18,000
inhabitants. The infant mortality rate in the shantytowns is 134/1,000 born
alive. World Friends works in the Namuwongo shantytown, one of the poorest in
Kampala: in fact the population is mainly composed of refugees from the Democratic
Republic of Congo and from North Uganda, lands bloodied from years of conflict.
Beneficiaries
World Friends activities are focused on children and their families attending the nursery school attached
to the clinic where World Friends operates. There are around 60 children aged between 3 and 6 years,
and taking into considering also brothers and sisters, mothers and grandmothers, the total amounts to
more than 300 persons who benefit from medical-healthcare services.
In addition, a crafts course has been set up for the mothers to encourage the start of incomegenerating activities. In this way the women, often abandoned by their husbands, can provide
economic support for their families.
The inhabitants of the nearest slums also come for help to the clinics with ever greater frequency, and
are those who otherwise would not be able to receive any type of treatment because of an almost total
lack of medical centers in the Kampala slums.
PEMBA
Pemba is an island off Tanzania, located around 50 kilometers north-east of Zanzibar on
the east coast of Africa. World Friends activities there initiated from a request from the
Zanzibar Ministry of Health and the Ivo De Carneri Foundation (already present on the
island) following verification that there was a serious lack of surgical care for the Pemba
community due to the absence of medical personnel in the main hospital on the island.
The Chake Chake hospital, in the island’s capital, has a catchment area of around 80,000
people, and a 143-bed capacity. It offers both an outpatient service as well as hospital
admissions, with an average of 74 outpatients and 15-25 admissions per day. One of the
greatest problems identified in the Zanzibar health system, in addition to the very often
outdated and inadequate infrastructures, is the lack of qualified personnel. This situation
is even more serious in Pemba, which can count on the presence of just one local doctor
(for a population estimated as around 500,000 inhabitants), and therefore is obliged to
call on expatriate foreign doctors. This situation can be put down to the distance between
the university training facilities which are on the mainland and therefore do not
encourage the islanders to take part in higher education, meaning living away from their
families with consequent high support costs. To this can be added the “brain-drain” of
those who, having completed their studies, are attracted to positions with more
remunerative earnings with respect to the non-competitive salaries offered by a public
structure such as the Chake Chake hospital, which exists essentially with state subsidies.
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Beneficiaries
The beneficiaries of World Friends activities are the healthcare workers in the surgery department of
the Chake Chake hospital, which are able to take advantage from the training (aides, anesthetists,
nurses; laboratory managers and technicians, doctors and nursing staff) and the Chake Chake user
community, as well as indirectly the entire user community of Pemba, thanks to an improvement in the
functioning of the health system and the training of healthcare personnel.
2.2 Beneficiaries of projects in Italy
World Friends has set up in Italy a group of young volunteers, “World Young Friends”: they are
young people already committed to their own professional training courses, above all in the healthcare
field and in the sphere of cooperation for development. Thanks to the training received from the
Association's personnel, they take part locally in activities for encouraging public awareness and fundraising for projects in Africa.
World Friends has been an active presence in schools since 2004. Thanks to support from volunteers
who arrange meetings to encourage public awareness, for many years now students from various
Italian towns have had the chance to get to know the African continent more closely, its resources,
connoted problems and its potential for future development.
The methodology followed by World Friends staff includes activities in classes with educational and
training activities aimed at students and teachers, to encourage the participation of children and
adolescents using interactive and multidisciplinary methodologies.
The public awareness and training activities of World Friends are also aimed at university students
and healthcare workers. Often the Association's workers are invited to Universities to research
subjects linked to cooperation activities carried out in the field, or they are asked to take part in
meetings and conferences for professionals in the medical or healthcare fields.
2.3 People who work for World Friends
In Kenya (Nairobi), the staff of World Friends includes 22 employees (15 locals and 7 expatriates)
working on the projects and in World Friends offices; in 2013 at the Ruaraka Uhai Neema Hospital,
Nairobi there were 140 local co-workers (medical personnel, paramedics, administrative workers,
logistics aides, etc.); 3 local workers on the project funded by the Kampala World Friends (Uganda), in
addition to an expat volunteer doctor, while in Pemba there is a local surgeon supported by the World
Friends project. The Association’s staff in Italy comprises 4 co-workers and 4 external consultants, plus
volunteers, working in a central administrative office in Rome and in 10 regional offices throughout
Italy.
2.4 Volunteers
The volunteers are persons coming from different Italian towns, who decide to dedicate part of their
time to World Friends. What we ask from them is to share the principles and values of the Association,
to show responsibility in carrying out their commitments, and to offer their services free.
The tasks of volunteers are multiple: to spread the initiatives of World Friends in Italy, organize fundraising events to support cooperation projects, officially represent the Association in meetings with local
institutions, to represent World Friends at local events organized by third parties.
At present World Friends can count on 50 volunteers: university students, professionals,
pensioners, housewives, animators at youth centers and in parishes.
The 23 members are for the most part those who contributed to the founding of World Friends and
who continue collaboration with distribution and promotional activities throughout Italy on behalf of the
Association. They organize events, establish new contacts, take steps to involve friends and co-citizens
in the work of the Association aimed at expanding the areas where activities could take place. 2.5
2.5 Donors
World Friends donors are of many different types: Italian and international bodies and institutions;
private citizens and firms; foundations, NGOs, religious institutions; governments and institutions in
countries where World Friends is active; international solidarity associations.
Among major funders: European Commission, MAE, Fondazione San Zeno (Italia), Caritas Antoniana
di Padova, Cooperazione Decentrata (Regione Toscana), CEI – Conferenza Episcopale Italiana,
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Fondazione CARIPLO, Fondazione Alba Care (Sweden), Sonneborg Funding (Sweden), USAID, UKAID,
as well as a base of private donors comprising around 2,700 private citizens.
2.6 Network with other NGOs
World Friends works in colllaboration with many other bodies in Italian and international cooperation.
In 2012, WF joined the CONCORD Italia platform, representing the NGOs working in the European
environment in the field of cooperation and development, humanitarian assistance, global education
and public awareness through programmes, projects and lobbying and advocacy and campaigns. World
Friends is a member of the Italian Observatory for Global Action against AIDS, a network of
Italian and international NGOs committed to the fight against AIDS and poverty. The aim of the
network is to contribute to preventing AIDS in the world, with special attention given to poor and less
developed countries. The Observatory promotes collaboration between NGOs, developing a common
political action aimed at making public institutions aware on the development of health policies to
combat AIDS. World Friends is also a member of the Comitato Cittadino per la cooperazione
decentrata della città di Roma (City of Rome Citizens Committee for decentralised cooperation), a
network of organisations that work in international cooperation, in the promotion of human rights, in
the environmental field and in social services.
World Friends is a partner of the Centre for global health, Regione Toscana, a unique reality on the
Italian panorama, whose intention through collaboration with Italian and international institutions, is to
support a new way of carrying out health cooperation in an inclusive way, and leaning towards a vision
of the right to health in its wider conception.
Thanks to its activities in local offices, and to its volunteers, World Friends takes part in important
regional networks that unite profit and non-profit realities, public bodies, universities and experts. All of
these networks function locally to structure and strengthen the activities of international cooperation,
the development of collaboration between areas, and public awareness in Italy. The most active are the
Tavolo Africa e il Gruppo di laboro Aids e adolescenza della Regione Toscana (African
Committee and the Aids and adolescence working group, Tuscan Region), and the Forum per la
cooperazione della Provincia di Firenze (Forum for Cooperation, Province of Florence), the Janua
Forum, Coordinamento delle ONG piemontesi (Janua Forum, Coordination of Piedmont NGOs), and
the recently created Rete Ligure per la promozione delle attività internazionali (Ligurian
network for the promotion of international activities). WF also belongs to the Tavolo comunale della
Cooperazione Internazionale della città di Modena (Municipal committee for International
Cooperation, Modena) and is co-founder of the journal “Modena Cooperazione internazionale”. Still in
Modena, from 2001 WF has been a member of the Comitato Provinciale sulla Cooperazione
Internazionale allo Sviluppo (Provincial Committee for International Cooperation for Development),
composed of associations operating in the field of international cooperation for development, the
promotion of a culture for peace and for human rights, as well as local bodies in the area. From 2009
World Friends has been a member of the Piattaforma della Mondialità di Savona, (Worldwide
platform, Savona), an NGO network committed to topics of peace, immigration, and international
cooperation for development. WF’s Nairobi offices and the association’s projects are constantly referred
to by delegations of these different organisations and by volunteers, trainees and workers. World
Friends is a member of the Hennet network – Health NGOs Network, a consortium of NGOs and
Kenyan and international institutions that work in Kenya in the health field.
2.7 Partnership
World Friends has developed partnerships with different institutions and organizations, both local and
international.
Among these is the Ivo de Carneri Foundation, with which World Friends is a partner in a health project
in Tanzania, and the non-governmental organisation CISP (Comitato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei
Popoli – International Committee for the Development of Populations) with which it has developed
numerous partnerships initiatives, including the project for “Improving living conditions for mothers
and children through expanding health services for maternal-child health, nutritional and reproductive
health, in the Isinya and North Kajiado districts.” (Supported by the European Commission through the
Delegation of the European Union in the Republic of Kenya).
Since 2010, World Friends has taken part in a combined research and training project for the
prevention of the HIV/Aids virus in partnership with the Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), EuResist
Network, the international network promoting scientific research, AVSE (Area Vasta Toscana Sud-Est);
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KEMRI (Kenya Medical Research Institute); Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia); Muhimbili University, Dar
es Salaam (Tanzania).
300 HIV/AIDS patients have been involved in the study since the project began.
In the training field, World Friends collaborates with the Mayo Clinic, the renowned American nonprofit organisation famous for its healthcare assistance and the high quality of its training and research
activities.
In 2005 World Friends began a partnership with the
Università Campus Biomedico in Rome, including
scientific research and teaching and training activities
specific to topics relating to international cooperation.
In Nairobi, World Friends has developed projects in
partnership with the Archdioceses of Nairobi, Mbagathi
District Hospital, Urafiki Centre Foundation, Zam Zam
Medical Services, District Medical Officer of Health
(Kajiadio Nord e Isinya, Kasarani), ACREF, Comboni
Sisters, Kivuli Centre, KEMRI, HotSun Foundation e
Slum-TV, The ActionFoundation, AAR Beckmann Trust.
[3. PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES]
3.1 Kenya
3.1.1 Neema Project
Project description:
The north-eastern shantytowns of Nairobi represent one of the most marginalized areas of the capital.
With a prevalence of absolute poverty at around 48% (Kasarani District) these shantytowns present
one of the main areas of the entire county where there is a concentration of family units living in
disadvantaged conditions. The causes, and at the same time the effects, of such a poverty rate and the
inaccessibility of primary healthcare, both from the geographic as well as the economic point of view,
with consequences on the general state of health of vulnerable categories like women and children are
extremely disquieting. Proof can be seen in the high infant mortality rate before the age of 5
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(150.6/1,000 live births) and the high rate of maternal mortality, together with the almost double
incidence of HIV and AIDS compared to the average in Kenya, especially among adolescents.
The main objective is to contribute to an improvement in the quality of life and to promote the right to
health for the populations in the Nairobi slums. The specific aim of the project is to manage and expand
the services of the Ruaraka Uhai Neema Hospital, a poly-functional health center created by World
Friends to guarantee access for the poorest patients to healthcare services, health education for the
shanty towns inhabitants and training for medical and paramedical staff.
In 2013 the Ruaraka Uhai Neema Hospital offered the following services: Health education, general
clinics, gynecological clinics, pediatric clinics, maternity, physiotherapy, radiology, first aid, clinical
analysis laboratories, specialized clinics (HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Diabetes, etc.) pediatric surgery and
basic gynecology, dispensaries.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
The Ruaraka Uhai Hospital served 118,034 patients in the year 2012; of whom 30,554
children under the age of 5; 148,272 healthcare services were provided by the different
departments and there was a 1.5% increase in the overall flow of patients compared to 2011,
data that highlight an increase in the access to primary healthcare services by the whole
population in the area2,046 babies were born and more than 60,000 outpatients were
treated at the Center for Maternal-child Health. More than 500 HIV/AIDS patients
received the Anti-Retro-viral therapy, which is completely free of charge.
With regard to the training of medical and paramedical personnel, in 2013 the updating
courses and conferences proposed included both the personnel at the RU Neema hospital as
well as people working in the dispensaries present in the shantytowns and health workers
active in other medical structures. 44 training courses were carried out. Each course was
attended by an average of 20 health workers. Training related to different subjects, including
general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, anesthetics and reanimation, infective diseases,
physiotherapy, ultrasounds and endoscopes.
The following table sets out data for Neema Hospital by month and for services offered
2013 PATIENTS FLOW NEEMA HOSPITAL
MCH
(MOTHER
AND CHILD
HEALT)
CASUALITY
HIV/AIDS
(VCT, CCC)
MATERNITY
TOTAL
2013
RADIOLOGY
LABORATORY
THEATRE
FISIOTERAP
Y
GEN
875
4404
29
804
3116
691
365
257
10541
FEB
825
4108
33
725
2987
562
307
200
9747
MAR
789
4186
34
852
2834
836
323
204
10058
APR
841
4328
18
732
4431
947
345
247
11889
MAY
881
4883
55
1045
4625
1472
360
236
13557
JUN
856
4755
28
867
4198
1065
186
208
12163
JUL
945
5353
23
960
4495
1246
196
242
13460
AUG
788
5178
33
863
4771
1231
218
222
13304
SEP
925
5420
33
929
4059
1320
262
248
13196
OCT
949
6148
27
1198
4709
422
509
250
14212
NOV
780
5633
38
963
5049
649
267
235
13614
DIC
909
5257
39
932
4429
443
260
262
12531
TOT
10363
59653
390
10870
49703
10884
3598
2811
148272
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NEEMA – MAIN FUNDERS
Alba Care Foundation, CEI, San Zeno Foundation, HANSHEP Fund, Tuscan Region (Area
Vasta SI-GR-AR) Karolinska Institute, Cooperazione Italiana, Caritas, Acqui Terme
Diocese, Associazione Cuore Amico, CAI (Italian Alpine Club), Acqui Terme, Fondazione
Cassa di Risparmio di Alessandria, Autonomous Province of Trento, Manos Unidas,
European Union, Caritas Antoniana (Padova), Rome Municipality.
The Neema Project for maternal/child health
The Centre for Maternal/Child Health has been active since 2009 at the Neema Hospital, and from 2011
also the Maternity Wing, with an annexed operating theatre and a maternal/child outpatients clinic
(MCH) The overall aim is to improve the health of mothers and children in the slums in the North East
of Nairobi.
The Maternity Wing was officially opened in
September 2011, and at the end of December 2013 it
recorded 3,600 natural births and 1,610 caesareans: a
total of 5,210 deliveries.
The World Friends programme for maternal-child health at
Neema is aimed at mothers and children in the poorest
sectors of the population in Nairobi, and envisages the
implementation of three main activities: an educational
programme on safe pregnancy and the prevention of
mother-to-child transmission of HIV; maternal-child
treatments at the new Maternity Department; ongoing
medical training for the healthcare workers involved in the programme.
Among the main objectives are the reduction in the spread of HIV/AIDS and the mother-to-child
transmission of the virus; and increasing the number of planned and monitored births.
From 2012 the Promotion of Maternal-child Health
programme and Continuous Medical Training was initiated,
a follow-up to the preceding Neema Mamy project carried
out by World Friends. With this new project, supported by
the Regione Toscana (Area Vasta Sud Est), the activities of
continuous medical training are now extended also to the
rural hospital of North Kinangop, as well as to the RU
Neema Hospital. This new collaboration will allow for an
expansion of activities on a wider scale, benefiting the
homogeneity of the training programme at national level
and will ensure that the project can reach a greater
number of beneficiaries.
Future actions:
NEEMA HOSPITAL – NEW PEDIATRIC DEPARTMENT
In September 2013, the Project “Mother and Child Health Referral Network” was
initiated, with the help of private donors, the Health Enterprise Fund/HANSHEP Fund
(UKAID, USAID), AlbaCare Foundation e Fondazione Cariplo. This looks forward to the
construction of a Paediatric Unit at the Neema Hospital, a second operating
theatre for paediatric and maternity cases, as well as an extension to the existing
maternity wing.
The aim is to steadily improve health assistance for the most vulnerable categories:
training, autonomy, development, integration and the promotion of the right to health
for the populations of the Nairobi slums. Thanks to the new Paediatric Unit, and the
11
above-mentioned extension, which will be equipped with its own operating theatre and
specialised staff, the Neema Hospital will be able to provide specialised medical care for
children living in the slums.
Within the first months of 2014, mothers and children from the slums of Baba Dogo,
Kariobangi, Mathare, Kahawa and Githurai, will have access to a larger maternity
structure and a well-equipped paediatric unit, and the Neema Hospital will be able to
admit, examine and treat children with more complex pathologies.
.
3.1.2 Prevention
Project description: World Friends carries out two programme for prevention and healthcare education
targeted at young people in schools: Health Education Programme, Safe Motherhood Programme.
Health Education: The programme foresees capillary
activities in socio-healthcare aimed at young people,
schools, parents, teachers and educational personnel.
Specifically:






Health education in schools and slum areas
Medical assistance in schools and slum areas
Programme on the fight against drugs
Prevention of HIV/aids
Training of Teachers and Principals
Seminaries for parents
Each year two great Public Rally events are held in testimony to the fight against AIDS.
Safe Motherhood: This initiative was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) with the
cooperation of numerous partners, including the United Nations (United Populations Fund, UNFPA) and
a number of NGOs, aimed at promoting the reproductive health of women and to promote the
protection of a safe and responsible motherhood.
The programme's aim is to guarantee that all adolescents can have knowledge of and obtain access to
information, support, services and necessary treatments in the field of reproductive health.
The specific aims of the programme are to:
- reduce the rate of undesired pregnancies (and resultant desertion of schooling);
- reduce the rate of abortions and complications arising from them;
- reduce the mortality and maternal morbidity rate;
- reduce the rate of sexually transmitted infections/illnesses (including HIV/AIDS).
The programme is targeted at girls attending primary schools (sixth, seventh and eighth, 10-14 years)
in a number of slums in Nairobi (Babadogo, Huruma, Kariobangi, Korogocho), where the meetings take
place. From 2012 the Safe Motherhood programme relating to education for safe pregnancy was
strengthened, and now the team, initially formed of 2 social-health workers is now coordinated by a
professional nurse and midwife and by a surgeon with experience in the field of maternal-child care. In
addition, again starting from 2012, the Safe Motherhood programme has been extended in the areas
involved, reaching new schools in the shantytowns for a total of beneficiaries estimated at around
15,000.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
In 2013 the Health Education Programme involved 21 schools, for a total of 4,115 students.
Seminaries were organised for 35 head teachers and for 31 teachers; school meetings were
held in schools for 894 parents. 43 new local workers were trained: the team at the basis of
the programme, in addition to the local operators, is composed of 1 social assistant, 1
counsellor, 1 coordinator, 1 nurse.
In the sphere of the Safe Motherhood Programme, 1,736 boys and girls from the schools
were trained on topics of reproductive health, maternity and safe pregnancies.
12
3.1.3 Professional training
In 2009 the “Neema” Health Center in Nairobi was recognized by
the Kenya Medical Board as a Centre for Professional
Development, a certification granted to very few structures
throughout Kenya. At the Ruaraka Uhai Neema Hospital and in
peripheral facilities, a programme of continuous training is offered
to doctors and health-care personnel at the hospital and at
outpatient clinics in the shantytowns.
Neema: Professional Training Center
Project description: This project, supported by the San Zeno Foundation (Italy) and the Swedish
Foundation Alba Care, was created to guarantee professional training to local doctors and paramedics,
aiming to facilitate their entry on the labour market and to stimulate their professional growth, thus
helping to halt the “brain-drain” from the country. The project plans to build a Training Center at the
Nairobi RUNeema Hospital, and to run training courses for social-health workers.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
The Professional Training Centre (CFP), which opened in 2012, has a conference
hall, a multimedia library and all the necessary equipment for the functioning of videoconferences anticipated in the field of distance training.
51 sessions of Continual Medical Training were carried out in 2013, and 4
practical-theoretical modules. Each course was attended by an average of 20 health
workers. Among the main subjects dealt with: general surgery, obstetrics and
gynaecology, anaesthetics and reanimation, infective diseases, physiotherapy,
ultrasound scans and endoscopy.
Theoretic-practical modules. Each course was attended by an average of 20 health
workers. Amongst the main subjects treated were: general surgery, obstetrics and
gynaecology, anaesthetics and reanimation, infection diseases, physiotherapy,
ultrasounds and endoscopy.
Under the programme, 8 local health workers with a work training contract have
been introduced, divided up as follows: 1 gynaecologist (surgeon); 2 physiotherapy
assistants (CBRP); 1 physiotherapist (CBRP); 1 clinical officer; 1 midwife; 2 nurses
(CBRP).
3.1.4 Medical Camp
Project Description: The “Medical Camp
Programme” was created to provide free care
for the sick in the Nairobi shantytowns, who,
for different reasons, are unable to get to
Neema Hospital.
A Medical Camp is a mission by the staff of
Neema Hospital carrying out free visits
in the slums, and involves 1 doctor, 1
assistant doctor, 2 nurses, 1 pharmacist and
an administrative worker for the registration
of
patients.
Services
offered
include
examinations and medical consultations; free
distribution of medicines; information for the
prevention of the most common illnesses;
information on Neema Hospital services to
make known to the poorest sectors of the
13
population the services available from the World Friends Healthcare Centre. The clinic is focused mainly
for women and children. Where there is a need for further investigations, the patient is referred back to
the Ruaraka Uhai Neema Hospital.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
Every month a Medical Camp takes place in different areas of North-East Nairobi.
12 Medical Camps took place in 2013 in the Mathare, Korogocho, Kayole, Kariobangi,
Pangani/Pumuani, Baba-Dogo, Githurai-Kimbo slums. 2,515 patients were treated,
mostly children under the age of 5 years (23%) and women (61%), who do not have
access to medical care. During each Medical Camp, the Neema Hospital staff were able
to give basic information on hygiene-health matters to the adults present, in particular
to the mothers of the little patients. Around 31% of those examined during the Medical
Camps were subsequently referred to Neema Hospital for further treatment.
3.1.5 Prevention and Rehabilitation of disability
Project description: The programme was created with the aim of a
global confrontation on the problem of infantile disability.
According to estimates, in fact, more than 10% of the inhabitants of
the Nairobi slums are disabled, and the major part are children,
mainly from the Korogocho, Kariobangi, Mathare Valley, Eastleigh,
Babadogo and Soweto shantytowns.
The CBRP - Community based rehabilitation programme - offers the
following services: screening for handicaps, corrective surgery,
rehabilitation and physiotherapy for disabled children from the
slums.
A team of professionals (physiotherapists, occupational therapists,
therapists) regularly offer personalized rehabilitation sessions to the beneficiary children directly at
their nearest gymnasium, or, in the case of special needs, at the physiotherapy department at the RU
Neema Hospital. Following a suitable screening and a course of rehabilitation/preparation, a number of
cases are able to benefit from corrective surgery carried out in the RU Neema Hospital operating
theater. These operations are performed by the World Friends orthopedic surgeon, who goes on mission
to Nairobi for a two-week period every six months.
During the mission, the orthopedic surgeon carries out regular
training sessions for the medical personnel, physiotherapists and the
families of children involved in the programme. With the Programme
for Community Rehabilitation, World Friends not only responds to the
need for medical assistance and social integration of the children
involved, but benefits the emancipation of their mothers, who are
able to measure themselves with others who live with the same
difficulties, and in this way overcome the existing stigma affecting
disability.
Through “Health Adoptions” World Friends offers the possibility to
support the funding of surgical expenses for children and their
rehabilitation.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
1,965 specialist examinations took place in 2013 in the RU Neema Hospital
Physiotherapy Department. 530 children benefited from occupational therapy sessions
in gymnasiums in the outskirts of Kariobangi, Babadogo, Kahawa West-Soweto, and 17
children successfully received corrective surgery carried out during the two missions by
orthopaedic surgeons (Dr. Melotto e Dr. Gifuni) from World Friends. 33 health workers
were trained in physiotherapy for the disabled by specialists from the RU Neema
Hospital.
In addition, 530 parents defied the stigma of disability and attended the weekly
meetings on physiotherapy/occupational therapy, accompanying their children in public.
14
33 parents with their children took part in the training session on disability organised at
the RU Neema Hospital. The CBRP programme up to now has involved more than
2,600 children.
3.1.6 Support for Mbagathi District Hospital in Nairobi
Project description:
World Friends provides support for Mbagathi Hospital for the management of the surgery
department (operating theater and ward), ensuring the permanence of the World Friends surgeon who
is in charge of the project. World Friends also contributes to the clinical-surgical specialist training of
local medical and paramedic personnel working on the programme, either in service or undergoing
university training at the hospital. In addition to that, World Friends offers support and supervision,
professional technical consultancy and training to out-posted medical centers in the shantytowns.
The Mbagathi state hospital remains the only state hospital available to the poor. In theory, its
catchment area covers 2.5 million inhabitants from the shantytowns. It is for this reason that both the
hospital as well as the decentralized clinics are in need of cooperation and financial support.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
3 surgeons, 3 gynaecologists, one orthopaedic specialist and 12 theatre nurses are in
service at the Mbagathi Hospital and collaborate with the World Friends doctors and
surgeons. In 2013, 814 caesarian births, 416 operations on adults, and 111 on children,
for a total of 1,342, were carried out by the medical and surgical staff at the Mbagathi
District Hospital.
3.1.7 Right to health for refugees
In 2012 World Friends initiated a series of activities to benefit urban refugees in the
framework of a new project for health assistance in the Nairobi shantytowns.
The project emerged from cooperation between
World Friends, the Neema Hospital and the CISP
with the aim of facilitating access to basic health
assistance for a particularly vulnerable category:
urban refugees, a community that in Nairobi
counts not less than 55,000 persons, with an
average annual growth rate of 13% in 2008. The
refugees, for the greater part from Somalia, very
often face even greater difficulties than the
Kenyans in accessing primary healthcare and
specialist assistance. This problem particularly
affects women and children, because they are not
able to use the maternal-child services, such as
the pre-natal clinics, assisted births, postpartum
assistance, vaccinations, neonatal and infant
services. This is mainly due to factors such as treatment costs, distance from health centers, not
knowing about the existence of certain services and health structures and the reduced availability and
quality of services offered.
To remove the obstacles that impede adequate access to healthcare services for the urban refugees in
Nairobi, World Friends, the Neema Hospital and the CISP have decided to intervene, offering free
medical-nursing services at the Buru Buru clinic and the RU Neema Hospital.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
Within the framework of the project in 2013, 115 urban refugees benefited from 231
health treatments at the Neema Hospital. A nurse with a knowledge of the Somalian
language is employed full time at the RU Neema Hospital.
15
3.1.8 Kajiado Project
In November, 2012, World Friends started up a new
project
to
benefit
the
most
disadvantaged
communities in the Isinya and Kajiado districts, in the
North of Kenya, with an aim to offer medical
treatments and healthcare assistance to the
population sectors that are normally excluded,
contributing to a reduction in infant mortality and to
the improvement of maternal health in Kajiado Count
(Kenya), where 50% of births take place at home,
without any qualified assistance and where, because
of the inaccessibility of maternity and pre-natal, perilnatal and post-natal services, record the highest
maternal and infant mortality rates (74/1,000 live
births) in the region.
World Friends, together with its project partner (Comitato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei Popoli
(CISP), Italia (International Committee for the Development of Populations (CISP), the Urafiki Centre
Foundation, Kenya and Zam Zam Medical
Services, Kenya), will be tasked with a
series of necessary actions to reduce the
maternal-child mortality rate and to
improve the nutritional status of the new
mothers, the newborn and the children,
and to spread good prevention practices
and
responsible
parenthood
through
targeted meetings with members of the
community, and particularly with women’s
groups to improve the capacity of the
system and the running of local healthcare
assistance
through
public-private
partnerships.
The project for “Improvement of lifestyle conditions for mothers and children through an increase in
maternal-child, nutritional and reproductive health services in the Isinya and North Kajiado” receives
support from the European Commission, through the European Union Delegation in the Republic of
Kenya.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
6,138 children were vaccinated in 2013; 508 patients received medical treatment
during the course of the mobile clinics which took place. 2,012 sessions of
nutritional education were given to 442 women. A standard de-worming treatment
was administered to 477 children between 1 and 5 years of age. 887 newborns and
children under the age of 5 received a constant “Growth monitoring” carried out by
the project’s nutritionist. 1,477 adolescents (723 boys and 724 girls) took part in
sessions on Health Education and Safe Motherhood, carried out in villages and in the
10 schools involved. Formal collaborations were initiated with 19 Village Health
Committees, composed of 202 members from the respective communities. Two
beneficiary bodies of the project
(Urafiki CentreFoundation, ZamZam Medical
Services), received medical materials, thanks to which they were able to improve their
health offer. This, for example, allowed them to carry out 52 ecographs.
16
3.1.9 Scientific Research
World Friends participates in the project "Optimization of tuberculosis and HIV co-treatment in
Africa”, coordinated by the renowned Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) and with the participation of
the EuResist Network, the Area Vasta Toscana Sud-Est (Italy), the KEMRI (Kenya Medical Research
Institute), the Muhimbili Hospital (Tanzania) and the Ababa University (Ethiopia).
The general aim of the project is to strengthen healthcare facilities and to improve the training
of local workers involved in the fight against HIV, giving weight to the always more pervasive
resistance to medicines by patients.
Specifically, the project aims to:

Carry out training activities to improve the practices of control and management of resistance to
medicines

Provide IT tools to improve data management

Improve the capacity to conduct appropriate clinical tests on medicines

Conduct training courses on the use of EuResist (treatment response prediction engine), an IT
device to gather data – anonymous – of millions of HIV and TBC sufferers. Comparing patients’ data
who share the same symptoms and are affected by similar virus allows for an immediate diagnosis and
therefore a suitable treatment for each specific case.

Load onto the EuResist motor the data resulting from clinical tests performed on the maternalfetal transmission of HIV/TBC so as to be able to use them also in Africa, and therefore lower the
number of cases of mother-fetus contagion.

Reinforce the analysis laboratories present in the area and carry out training to improve the
techniques of clinical analysis, aimed at optimizing the response times and reduce costs.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
In June 2013, four years since it began, the project carried out by World Friends in
cooperation with the Kivuli Dispensary and the MEMRI arrived at its conclusion. In
2013, 22 patients suffering from HIV were monitored. During the entire duration of
the project, however, 300 patients (pregnant as well as breastfeeding women
suffering from HIV/AIDS) were involved in the study, during which laboratory tests
were carried out, and intensive laboratory training was carried out in “Resistance to the
HIV/AIDS virus” aimed at participants from different countries (Kenya, Ethiopia,
Tanzania and Rwanda) at the KEMRI laboratory. Health workers were trained on the
subject of “Resistance to the HIV/AIDS virus.” 26 health workers were selected and
trained. In addition 3 health workers from the Neema Hospital and 1 researcher
from KEMRI followed an intensive course in “Bioinformatica”.
Beginning in October 2013, the Neema Hospital has been granted an important
accreditation from the Kenyan Government, thanks to which it has started to receive
drugs for the Anti-Retro-viral treatment for AIDS patients. However, in the past, before
benefiting from the Government programme, the Neema hospital already operated the
service through collaboration with local partners who provided the necessary drugs.
456 patients were previously treated under the free treatment programme in 2013.
17
3.1.9 Distance Adoption: Sara project
Project description:
World Friends is a follower of the Osservatorio Italiano sull'Azione Globale (Italian
Observatory on Global Action) against l'AIDS.
Using the distance adoption method, special care is taken of
one of the thousands of children and young people who live in
the Nairobi slums and in the poorest areas of the city. The
economic support requested from the donors allows the child
to study, pays for any treatment required and serves to create
a small “emergency fund” for the family's contingencies.
Sponsorship of a child, in fact, leads to the establishment of a
link with the whole family and their home community.
The children and young people to be adopted are chosen by
means of a network of social workers developed by World
Friends in the Nairobi slums, or with the help of missionaries who have worked for many years in the
country and are in contact with the association.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
In 2013, World Friends directly assisted 13 children. A number of youngsters, thanks
to the constant support received over the years, have gained their school-leaving
diplomas and are now studying at university.
3.1.11 Banjuka Project – Music and Dance School
Project description: The activities of the
“Banjuka Project – Music and Dance School”
take place in one of the poorest areas of the
north-eastern suburbs of Nairobi (the Babadogo
shantytown), to provide assistance to young
people stranded on the margins of society. The
aim of the project is to improve the status of
health and to promote the emancipation of youth
in the slums of north-east Nairobi, through art,
music, dance, and training activities.
Educational Foundation), a communitydesigned organization founded by local artists in
the Babadogo shanty towns, who have been
promoting local culture, the emancipation of the
most vulnerable groups (women, children,
the disabled, young people who have
abandoned school) and the health of
Babadogo residents.
The project encompasses
different activities
a
number
of
 Training for workers and teachers in
health education and prevention
 Awareness/education sessions for
pupils
 Workshops on particular subjects
(HIV/AIDS for example), with
specialised social workers,
counsellors, medical personnel
 A psychological support service to help young people and their families
 Music and Dance courses, with different styles and instruments, both traditional and modern
18
 Periodic exhibitions to ease the integration of young people into the community
 Cultural promotion workshops for parents and members of the community, with the presence
of key personalities from the local culture
RESULTS ACHIEVED
In 2013, 12 months after the start-up of the initiative, 96 days of lessons took place.,
with 27 participants at the Dance Courses, mainly young boys and girls. The lessons
are given by a professional choreographer, with the help of a qualified voluntary
choreographer. Various styles of dance are on offer, ranging from traditional African to
modern and contemporary dance. 73 participants attended the Music Courses,
divided into different groups of Singing, Guitar/Nyatiti, Percussion/drums, Piano, Flute,
conducted by qualified personnel. All the students showed a significant improvement in
their individual artistic skills, far beyond expectations. Banjuka has carried out 5
performances since the project’s inception:
7 December 2012: opening of the Training Centre of the Ruaraka Uhai Neema
Hospital;
14 April 2013: community performance organised at the ACREF theatre;
14 June 2013: at the celebrations of the International Day of the African Child, held in
the Korogocho slums;
22 June 2013: in Donholm (Nairobi) at the celebrations for International Refugee Day
5 October 2013: end-of-year performance organised at the ACREF theatre.
3.1.12 Slum Film Festival
Since 2013 World Friends has sponsored the Slum Film Festival, a
cinematographic event carried out on a community basis founded in 2011
in Nairobi, and now at its third edition. The SFF, which in 2013 was held
from 2 to 9 September, portrays the lives of people from the urban slums,
centred on life in the slums. As well as being a celebration of the creativity
of directors who live and work in the slums, it is an opportunity to promote
– by means of a week of films shown in the open air in the slums of
Mathare and Kibera (Nairobi) a range of different films to benefit a
community which rarely has access to the cinema. The project includes also training seminaries
conducted by experts, both local and foreign, to support film directors and actors coming from the
slums, carried out in the preliminary phase of the festival.
SFF is a joint project conducted by Slum-TV and Hot Sun
Foundation, supported by World Friends, the Royal African
Society, the Embassy of Spain (Kenya) and by the Alliance
Française, with the aim to make known to the public the
conditions of life in the urban slums, promoting and celebrating
the creativity of people who live in these communities. Through
this festival, the development of a network of collaboration
benefits the production groups situated within the slums and
demonstrates that the slums are not only communities where
people live in conditions of extreme poverty but that they are
also home to artists of great talent, creative and culturally
active, who deserve to get a chance to practice their art.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
The following results were achieved over the year 2013:
- A complete week of film projections in the Mathare and Kibera slums (14 films), with
an audience of 3,000 members of the public;
- One week of training seminaries, benefiting 30 local film directors and actors.
19
3.2 Uganda
3.2.1 Uganda project
Project description: in 2009 the “Little Lights Children Center”, a center created by an association in
the Namuwongo slums, one of the poorest shantytowns in Kampala, approached World Friends to
request economic and professional support in carrying out their activities, aimed to:

Provide free first-aid assistance and outpatient medical treatments for children from the nearby
school and their families.

Give support to healthcare prevention activities for children and their families who have little
access to healthcare structures.

Offer mothers free screening and courses in health-hygiene education

Cover expenses for any laboratory exams needed, diagnostic investigations, specialist visits and
hospital admissions for patients of the center

Provide economic support for the children to allow their access to primary school.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
In 2013 more than 2,000 patients coming from the surrounding slums were examined
and treated at the clinic. VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing) activities were carried
out and large numbers of children and adults underwent tests to verify the presence of
the HIV virus.
The children were also given weight controls, they were administered drugs against
intestinal parasites and received anti-tetanus booster vaccinations. They were also given
vitamin supplements and dental screenings.
Regular short sessions on health education were given to women accompanying their
children for medical exams. The health education programme in the slums was
expanded.
3.3 Tanzania
3.3.1 Pemba Project
Description of the project: The project’s aim is to support the surgery department at the Chake Chake
hospital on Pemba Island (Zanzibar-Tanzania). Until now the project (initiated by the Fondazione Ivo de
Carneri in 2007) provided for a rotating period of Italian surgeons to cover the department, which was
without any help. At the end of the third year, the need for an extension for an extra five years (20102014) became evident, while waiting for the return as doctor in charge of the Department of General
Surgery of a chosen candidate sent to study for a degree in medicine and surgery at Dar es Salaam
(Tanzania Mainland), supported by a study grant. From 2010, thanks to the presence of a local doctor
willing to stay for a few years, surgery at the Chake Chake hospital is now able to respond to the needs
of the population in the area of reference. The aim of the intervention by World Friends is to support his
work and presence at Pemba until the return of the doctor benefiting from the study grant in Dar Es
Salaam. World Friends is making its expertise available in the medical field, especially surgery. The
project also foresees a feasibility study for further future actions: to equip a physiotherapy centre for
the large number of patients with congenital malformations, complications from burns, traumas; the
setting up of a team of local surgeons and the development of a programme of continual medical
training both for the Chake Chake hospital personnel as well as for outlying centres.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
Two missions by two World Friends surgeons were effected in 2013. The aim of the first
mission was to make a primary evaluation of the situation. During the second mission,
two days of orthopaedic outpatient clinics took place during which patients with
orthopaedic pathologies were examined and received assistance from two local
physiotherapists.
Continuous Medical Training sessions for physiotherapists were implemented at the
Chake Chake hospital and a medium-long term programme was developed for improving
hospital services, for a community health prevention programme, physiotherapy and
20
rehabilitation (CBRP) and a programme of continuous medical training.
During the course of the missions, the two World Friends surgeons also had the
opportunity to meet the heads of the various departments at the Chake Chake hospital,
and the outlying health centres located in the shanty towns, as well as a number of
representatives from the Ministry of Health in order to organise plans for future activities
together.
3.4 Italy
With the support of its regional offices and its volunteers, World Friends carries out continuous
activities on training, public awareness, political culture and the promotion of international solidarity.
3.4.1 Education for development
Training and public awareness activities are conducted in different contexts and in different ways:

In schools of all types and grades, through seminaries and courses held by experts and
animators from World Friends, targeted at children, young people and parents and school personnel,
planned and programmed together with those in charge of the scholastic structures;

In universities, where members of World Friends regularly hold courses and seminars
on subjects linked to cooperation for development, especially in the social-health field. Among
others, the Travel Medicine and Clinical Logic held by Dr. Federico Gobbi (Founding member of
World Friends) at the Sacro Cuore-Don Calabria di Negrar (VR) hospital, part of the Master in
Tropical Diseases course at the University of Brescia; the teaching of Dr. Antonio Melotto (Head
of the World Friends Project, Surgery for the Disabled, part of the Physiotherapy Course at the
Bicocca University, Milan. A number of students of the course traveled to Nairobi to visit the
World Friends to carry out in-depth research on the themes related to surgery for the disabled.
For a number of years World Friends has been engaged in partnership with the Campus
Biomedico, Rome, to carry out training and education for development courses for students. In
2013, World Friends took part in a number of orientation sessions organized by the SDA Bocconi
School of Management for MIHMEOP (Master of International Health Care Management,
Economics and Po9licy) where World Friends presented to the university students the possibility
of carrying out trainee-ships at the World Friends offices in Nairobi.
WORLD FRIENDS AND THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF MILAN
World Friends has initiated a partnership with the University “Cattolica” of Milan, which
concerns the orientation of the students and the possibility of hosting young students as
trainees in its offices in Nairobi.
The first activities carried out in this partnership have had orientation as the central
topic. World Friends operators went to the university to hold a meeting on orientation
directed at students of Cooperation for Development, concerning the work of
collaborators and their academic and professional experience.
3.4.2 Scientific Activities
Scientific activity is a vital part of World Friends work in Italy. In 2013 initiative and study days for
medical and paramedical personnel were carried out, including teaching days on the subjects of
“Malaria”, “Antimalaria chemioprofilaxis”, “Clinical logic: the power of arguments” and “Tropical
clinical cases” at the course for Master in Tropical Surgery, University of Verona, and at the postgraduate course “Doctors 4 Africa” at the University of Parma. Teaching days were carried out at the
elective course for Infectious Diseases at the University of Verona, centred on the topic “Global
Health”. World Friends took part also in the Conference of the “Associazione Naturalisti Veronesi”
(Veronese Naturalists Association), Natural Science Museum, Verona: “Global Health: a new
challenge for medicine.”
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3.4.3 Youth project
Project description: A group of young volunteers was established in Italy: they are engaged in public
awareness activities, fund-raising and self-training in the field of cooperation towards development and
subjects relating to World Friends activity. The volunteers are mostly students or graduates committed
to their own professional training courses, mainly (but not solely) in the healthcare field and
cooperation towards development. The young volunteers support the Association through different
initiatives and are developing a programme of growth, both personal and group-oriented, within the
organization.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
From the start of the project, 34 volunteers in support of various projects have been
engaged. The “Gruppo Giovani in Italia” (Italian Youth Group) is usually composed of
around 20 units, and relies on at least the same number of volunteers who collaborate
on an occasional basis.
In 2013, 4 young people were trained and employed as volunteers at the World Friends
offices in Kenya: two of them were employed in health projects, and two in the field of
administration/project management.
3.4.4 SCREAM project
World Friends takes an active part in the initiative in the province of Pisa. “Supporting Children’s Rights
through Education, the Arts and the Media” (SCREAM) with the aim to inform and make aware children
at infant and primary schools and their parents on topics relating to the rights of children, with special
reference to Kenya.
The first phase of the initiative involved thirty schools, forming part of the laboratory project SCREAM
at the Scuola di Circo Antitesi, with specific laboratories on the rights of children and on knowledge of
the daily life and culture in Kenya.
During the second phase, similar events were held in the Kenyan schools involved in the project.
On 9 July 2013, 40 Kenyan children who took part in the project presented their “identity card”
to a representative of the Tuscany region at the ACREF centre in Babadogo, Nairobi, as a response to
those prepared by the respective Italian counterparts of the schools in Tuscany approached by World
Friends.
3.4.5. Campaign Women +
This campaign was born to inform and make aware Tuscan citizens on topics of AIDS and especially the
role of women as agents of change in relation to these themes in Africa. In addition to thirty
associations and NGOs, the Tuscan Region, the Province of Pisa, the Province and Municipality of
Livorno, the Province of Florence, the Euro-African partnership and associations of immigrant women
have all joined this campaign. Among the goals is fund-raising to support the basic health education
projects and support for young people carried out by World Friends and by other associations forming
part of the Working Group on Sub-Saharan Africa.
The most important activities of the initiative were carried out in 2013, during the Cooperation Forum
held in Florence. Journalists, schools and members of the associations belonging to the groups and to
the ASL Tuscany and immigrant associations took part in the event.
3.4.6 Turin – Nairobi, health tuition in schools
Doctors and biologist working for World Friends have sponsored an educational proposal to be diffused
in Italy, in schools and in young initiatives on subjects that can bring together the North and South of
the world with the aim of improving knowledge on topics of global health between young people in
Turin and the Province. WF’s experience, developed with the young people in Nairobi, has offered the
chance of contact and confrontation between the shanty towns and present-day reality for youth in
Turin and the province. Involved were young people attending middle school (Trana) and orators
(Rivera di Almese).
Interventions were of an interactive type, and dealt with topics such as:
- Education for global health
- Sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases
- Inter-cultural and African culture
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4. COMMUNICATIONS AND FUND-RAISING
4.1 Objectives and tools
World Friends carries out strong communication activities in Italy, with three main goals: to inform
supporters on how their donations are used; to raise public awareness; and fund raising activities.
Regular contact with our donors is vital, supporters and all those who decide to be informed on the
activities of World Friends. Direct communication comes about through the monthly electronic
newsletter and an annual paper edition, describing the progress of projects in Africa, communicating
the latest news from the field, and in sudden cases of emergency or necessity, making appeals for
funds.
World Friends prefers communication through the web, its website (www.world-friends.it, its electronic
newsletter, social network): a direct communication tool at reduced cost, which allows the Association
to limit management costs to the strictly necessary. The number of electronic newsletters, sent
monthly to all its registered members, amounted to more than 5,000 contacts in 2013. World Friends
Facebook page has more than 1,600 members. World Friends broadcasts on its You-tube channel the
videos filmed directly on site, bearing witness to the commitment and concrete results of the projects
for cooperation and development. The video material produced is used in training and public awareness
meetings and distributed throughout Italy. In 2012, World Friends also became active on Twitter, with
the profile @Wfriends, thanks to which it is able to inform and make aware in a direct and immediate
way the work that every day is being carried out by its workers in Africa and in Italy, and to date 170
contacts have signed up.
4.2 Campaigns
The campaign “Nessuno Escluso”, created to support
the World Friends programme to benefit children with
disabilities in the looks ahead to the consolidation and
expansion of the physiotherapy/occupational therapy
already initiated by World Friends, to facilitate entry to
the employment market for parents of disabled children,
empower access to education for children with
disabilities, and make the community in the slums aware
of disabilities and people with disabilities.
The campaign includes a series of activities and events
throughout Italy, amongst which the execution and
diffusion of the documentary “Refuse the Stigma” carried
out in Nairobi with the collaboration of the African Cultural Video Foundation, and seen on World
Friends You-tube channel. Also the World Friends Party, an annual event organised at the Peugeot
Bobino Club in Milan to bring awareness to the Italian public of disability topics in the Nairobi slums.
The event was carried out thanks to the support of the sponsors, Fabricatore S.r.l. During the course of
the evening, also thanks to the support of young Italian volunteers, World Friends has succeeded in
establishing a direct contact with many people who consequently decided to actively contribute to the
life of the association.
4.2
“Knowing Africa”: events and initiatives
During the course of 2013, numerous meetings, participation at gatherings,
conferences, book and film presentations took place, aimed at making citizens
and institutions aware of subject of the right to health in Africa and on activities
that World Friends carries out in a number of African countries.
Among the main activities:
Opening of the Global Health Centre – Tuscany Region. The Centre, of which
World Friends is a partner, allows university professors and researchers, PhD
graduates and students from various disciplines, professional doctors and
representatives from voluntary organizations to train, study in depth and
experiment an approach on topics of global health.
Celebration in Italy of the International day of the African Child to honour the
young victims of the Soweto massacre (South Africa), which took place on 16
June 1976. In Milan, on Tuesday, 18 June 2013,World Friends remembered this
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date with a reunion celebrating the positive changes which have taken place. Participation in
“Africare”, a large get-together where each year in Africa Non-profit organization workers meet up,
with social and charitable goals, to compare and keep each other informed on their respective
activities.
Participation in the “International Humanitarian Cooperation” Workshop, which explores the
problem of disability in developing countries through the testimonies of experts, doctors and workers in
the third sector who have conducted interventions of international cooperation for the disabled. During
the workshop, an intervention took place by Dr. Paolo Capodaglio, from the Italian Auxological
Institute, on a humanitarian mission in Kenya, taking as an example the World Friends project
sponsored by World Friends “Social inclusion for children with disabilities in the slums of Nairobi: an
opportunity for them and their families to emancipate and combat the stigma in the face of disability.
World Food Day, an international day instituted by the member countries of FAO in November 1979,
taking into consideration the fact that food is an indispensable need and therefore it is necessary to
make the world aware of problems such as poverty, hunger and
malnutrition. World Friends shares and participates in this world
initiative with a special newsletter, sharing information on the
nutritional habits in Kenya and especially in the slums of Nairobi
(where World Friends carries out the major part of its interventions)
highlighting the limits and the potentialities.
Thematic Conference on maternal-child health in Kenya
sponsored by the Tuscany Region together with the Centre for Global
Health. During the conference, Dr. Gianfranco Morino, World Friends
Regional Coordinator in Kenya, presented the project “Improving
maternal-child health in the Isinya and Kajiado North districts, Kenya”.
Conference “A Doctor at the Equator” - - A conversation with Gianfranco Morino, World Friends
doctor. With an introduction from Renato Kizito, Comboni missionary and readings from the work of
Otello Bellamoli. Through the testimony given by Gianfranco Morino, the social and health situation in
Nairobi was discussed in the light of the events which terrorised the city on 21 September 2013 (attack
on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi). The actuality and the efforts given to health prevention
and training left space also for a poetical glimpse of the Kenyan reality.
Christmas cocktails with World Friends – Art and Music meet Africa - To celebrate Christmas,
World Friends organised a concert with original Griot music with Madya Diebate (kora) and Lorenzo
Barone (guitar), at the Spazio Aquadro art gallery in Rome. During the evening, films of WF projects in
Nairobi were shown, with a presentation on activities by the Association’s President.
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5. ECONOMIC DIMENSION
5.1. Analysis of funds raised
Individuals
157,353
Private Companies
12,095
Institutions
49,397
Associations/Foundations
5 X 1,000
150,251
57,546
European Commission
240,326
Pledged reserves
418,172
Other
7,503
Total
1,092,643
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5.2. Utilization of funds raised
Projects
759,241
Administrative Costs
75,790
Taxes
11,734
TOTAL
846,765
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Amici del Mondo World Friends Onlus
CODICE FISCALE: 97256540580
IBAN: IT39 F050 1803 2000 0000 0105495
BANCA POPOLARE ETICA S.C.A.R.L.
World Friends Italia
Amici del Mondo World Friends Onlus
Sede legale: Via Cristoforo Colombo 440, 00145 Roma, Italia
Segreteria Nazionale: Viale Egeo 137, 00144 Roma, Italia
Tel/fax 06 83081500
info@world-friends.org
World Friends Kenya
Ruaraka Uhai Neema Hospital, off Thika Highway
P.O. Box 39433 - 00623. Nairobi, Kenya
Tel. +254 0713 050509. Cel. +254 0735 722237
nairobioffice@worldfriendskenya.org
www.world-friends.it
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