Seeing the impact of cascade training in Botswana

PCI is working with the Ministry of Health in Botswana to strengthen the primary care system through a sustainable cascade training programme for doctors, nurses and other community based health professionals. Dr. David Mazza, one of PCI’s clinical team, recently revisited our partners in Botswana to observe and mentor a cohort of ‘Master trainers’ whom … Read more …

Plastic bottles as inhaler spacers: improving the effectiveness of healthcare using clinical skills

There are more than half a million refugees in the DRC. Healthcare in refugee camps is overseen by the UNHCR, with whom PCI is working in a number of countries to develop care for NCDs. That’s why, in September 2018, PCI’s French-speaking clinical team headed to Kinshasa to train doctors and nurses working with refugees … Read more …

PCI appoints Julia Beart as new CEO

Primary Care International (PCI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Julia Beart as Chief Executive Officer from 1st December 2018. Julia is taking over from co-founder Jonathan Winter, who has led PCI from its inception as the international ‘social enterprise’ arm of medical education company Red Whale. Julia joined PCI in 2015 and, as … Read more …

A renewed focus on primary health care: reflections from Astana

PCI’s Jonathan Winter (CEO) and Adam Sandell, (Clinical Advisor), recently attended the Global Conference on Primary Health Care 2018 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Here, Jonathan and Adam reflect on the conference and the key points emerging from it for the PCI team. This conference marked the fortieth anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration, a milestone of … Read more …

Cascade training in Rwanda: hearing from an ‘NCD Champion’

Dr Charles Nahimana, 31, is Health Co-Ordinator at Nyabiheke Refugee Camp in Rwanda. Dr Charles attended PCI’s ‘cascade training’ last November. and became an ‘NCD Champion’ in the camp. This is part of our UNHCR project – working to roll-out clinical guidelines, build clinical and managerial capacity of medical staff to improve NCD management, monitor … Read more …

Improving NCD care in Uganda: a health worker’s perspective

PCI, in partnership with LifeNet International (LN), is piloting a model of care that brings the power to identify and treat NCDs into the hands of health workers in local health facilities, which are direct access-points for care for most Ugandans. Hear directly about this experience from Mukasa, a nurse charged with running a health … Read more …

Tackling NCDs in Afghanistan: building resilience amidst uncertainty

Dr Sarah Montgomery and Dr Peter Le Feuvre, PCI’s clinical team directors, recently went to Afghanistan to train key medical staff there in the use of WHO Emergency Kits medicines and equipment for the management of key NCDs. The Kits will be deployed to primary health care centres run by the Afghan Red Crescent Society … Read more …

Partnering for Impact: what kinds of collaboration are needed to tackle NCDs?

As Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) campaigners gear up for the 3rd UN High Level Meeting on NCDs later this month – with the highest ever turnout of global leaders expected to be in attendance – we have been challenging ourselves and our partners to make sense of the rhetoric around ‘multi-stakeholder collaboration’ and ‘multi-sector working’. In … Read more …

A new partnership for PCI in Mozambique: our role in shifting NCD care into primary care

PCI is pleased to be partnering with one of Mozambique’s most established healthcare leaders, Professor Ana Mocumbi, Head of Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Research at the Mozambique Institute for Health Education and Research. The partnership will test how strengthening primary care systems and upskilling health professionals in NCD care provision can improve outcomes for patients with … Read more …

Leave no one behind: NCDs in humanitarian crises cannot be ignored

Globally, non-communicable diseases are now the leading cause of death. And there is a growing awareness that humanitarian emergencies are increasingly occurring in populations who – as a result of changes in demographics (ageing population) and environment (unhealthy diet, tobacco use, physical inactivity) – are already at high risk of NCDs. In increasingly protracted crisis … Read more …