-Dr. Miriam Were, AMREF chairAMREF was founded in 1957 as Flying Doctors, a service that airlifts surgeons to perform emergency procedures in towns and villages without access to hospitals. Today, AMREF operates Flying Doctors alongside a number of other programs, many of which are focused on helping rural communities establish their own capacity to deliver health services.
The organization's staff of more than 600 physicians, nurses, researchers, nutritionists, and sanitation workers helps communities set up health systems to address many of the most serious challenges facing Africa. AMREF has defined six priority areas for intervention: HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria; water and basic sanitization; family health; clinical outreach; disaster management and emergency response; and training and development of health learning materials.
Selected Accomplishments
In Tanzania, AMREF, in partnership with community and district authorities, cleaned the water supply in the Mkuranga district, dramatically improving the health of children in the region.
In Kenya, AMREF has established a network among disability groups that led to a new national law guaranteeing the rights of disabled Kenyans.
In Mozambique, AMREF's sexual and reproductive health programs for youth have resulted in an increase in the number of young people seeking treatment for sexually transmitted infections and a reduction in teenage pregnancies.
AMREF programs are designed to be replicated on a large scale. Throughout its programs, AMREF closely monitors and evaluates the impact of its efforts, and publishes its findings so that other organizations can learn from its experiences.
Most of AMREF's projects are carried out in close partnership with national governments, and are usually implemented through existing government programs to ensure that they are sustainable over the long term. In addition, significant attention is paid to cost-effectiveness to ensure that limited resources for health are well spent.
AMREF is led by Board Chair Dr. Miriam Were, a community health specialist who has led country-level health programs in Africa for WHO and UNICEF; and Director General Michael Smalley, a malaria expert with extensive experience in administering health programs and applying information technology to solve health problems.
AMREF is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and has country offices in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda; field offices in Ethiopia and Mozambique; and major projects in Rwanda, Somalia, and southern Sudan. Ninety-seven percent of its staff is African.
