Namibia
Namibia is a land of harsh beauty, with several deserts and extraordinary ecosystems. Namibians work in mining and industry, as well as in the service industry, but high unemployment contributes to significant income disparities. The HIV/AIDS pandemic—Namibia has an HIV infection rate of 17.6%—has left an estimated 85,000 orphaned children and a stressed health care system which lacks many critical personnel. This disease has placed a huge burden on child welfare systems, which struggle to provide sufficient human and financial resources to adequately address the situation. Gender inequality, especially in income distribution, increases the impact of this health care crisis on women and children.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare (MGECW)'s 2007 analysis of its human resources highlighted key issues including the need to address staffing, structures and resources, particularly the inadequate number of social workers to support orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs). IntraHealth will work with the Ministry to address their need to plan, develop, manage, and support the requisite number of social workers for OVCs. The plan will map out the number of vacant positions, a recruitment time frame and the most efficient way to quickly recruit qualified social workers.
Namibia’s health care system relies strongly on faith-based organizations (FBOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Initially, IntraHealth focused principally on clinical strengthening—reviewing and improving the model of HIV care and treatment at five FBO hospitals and supporting the eight program areas of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Work has since been expanded to provide human resources for health technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Social Services as well as three FBOs and six NGOs. The overall goal is to build the capacity of these and other local organizations to develop, implement and scale up comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programs.
IntraHealth is working primarily through faith-based mission hospitals, NGOs and one professional society at the national and regional levels. The prevention component focuses on students, community members, health workers and pregnant women, while the treatment, care and support programs focus on people affected by and infected with HIV. IntraHealth-led Capacity Project activities in Namibia are continuing through a Capacity Project Associate Award.
Donor/Project: USAID (Capacity Project Associate Award, Southern Africa Human Capacity Development Coalition Project)
Partners, Capacity Project Associate Award: Anglican Medical Service, Catholic Health Services, Catholic AIDS Action, Democratic Resettlement Community VCT Center, Development Aid from People to People, Evangelical Lutheran Church Program, Lifeline/Childline, Lutheran Medical Services of Namibia, Namibian HIV Clinician Society, Namibian Red Cross Society, Walvis Bay Multi-Purpose Center
Selected health statistics for Namibia (WHO, accessed October 2008):
Life expectancy, in years (m/f): 59/63
Probability of dying under 5 years of age (per 1000 live births): 61
Adult prevalence of HIV/AIDS: 17.6%
Maternal mortality (per 100,000 live births): 300