Zimbabwe Appeal
The appeal's final total was £33,415 - a fantastic response to the request for help from CMF Zimbabwe during the cholera epidemic which has claimed over 4,000 lives. Our donations bought supplies to treat 3,000 patients and provided running costs for cholera treatment centres. In total, our partners treated 13,000 patients - 13% of the country's caseload - and gave health education to 25,000 people. Through word and deed they brought God's love to thousands of people and many gave their lives to Christ. It has been a privilege for CMF UK to be a part of this.
Thank you to all who prayed and gave. Read the full report
Appraisers needed
Requirements for revalidation remain undecided for doctors working abroad. However, it is clear that annual appraisals will play an important part, but these will be difficult for many of our overseas members to arrange. If qualified appraisers here could provided appraisals - either by phone and internet, or face-to-face during leave periods - this would be a valuable way of supporting those working abroad. If you are interested in helping, contact vicky.lavy@cmf.org.uk
Broadening your horizons
The BMA have recently published this helpful guide to taking time out to work and train in developing countries. Trainees can do this as 'out of programme experience' (OOPE) or as approved research or training, or between training schemes. Doctors in substantive posts can do this through the NHS career break scheme, or as study leave, or as sabbatical. The handbook provides a step-by-step guide to the application processes for all of these options.
www.bma.org.uk
The overall message is encouraging: while it may require hard work and perseverance to arrange time out, the opportunity is there for everyone. See this edition of Triple Helix to read about two members' experiences.
Vicky Lavy is Head of International Ministries.
International partnerships
The Christian HIV & AIDS Alliance
This is about to launch a new initiative called 'Covenant to Care' which aims to equip and empower churches to link with Christian organisations involved in HIV and AIDS programmes around the world, and to encourage those churches to make a long-term commitment to partner with those programmes. More details at http:
The UK Consortium on AIDS & Development Faith Working Group
We have been co-operating with WHO and UNAIDS over the last year on ways of working more effectively with faith communities and faith-based organisations.
Department for International Development
CMF has also been involved with a recent consultation by the UK government's DFID on its new White Paper. Although there was little in the consultation document directly linked to health in the developing world, we did bring health and faith into the issues we felt DFID needed to consider - particularly working constructively with churches and Christian organisations, both in developing countries and in the UK.
Healthcare Mission Forum
Finally, we have been working with Global Connections in a consultation by their Healthcare Mission Forum on the current and possible future challenges for healthcare mission from the UK. A meeting was held with a range of mission leaders, church leaders, and health professionals involved in mission. After lengthy discussion, a range of working groups was drawn together around:
- The missiology of healthcare mission
- Partnerships - between Western agencies and churches, and national agencies and churches
- Getting the story out - both to inspire the churches and to provide a hard evidence base for governments and international bodies
- Building and developing local capacity
- Communicating to British churches what is happening in healthcare mission worldwide
The plan is to draw the findings of these working groups together over the next few months to feed into the Global Connections conference this autumn, and so to steer the direction for future work and partnerships between mission agencies and churches in our area of healthcare mission.
Steve Fouch is Head of Allied Professions Ministries and works with the International Department.
