Project Progress

During the months of October and November, NMSI enrolled Soland into one of our ‘Giving Back’ partners, A Child Unheard, where they are now completing the urgent repair and renovation works to ACU’s school roof.

This project, partially financed by the funds raised by William Hsu (son of NMSI Deputy Chairman Fred Hsu) and friend Charlie Stevens from their epic 10,500 km cycle ride along the silk road for ACU, is a great milestone for Soland, as they gain their first, of what is hoped will be many, new contracts outside the ‘Built To Care Ghana’ district hospital programme.

This is phase 1 of the renovation programme at the school and sees the renovation of the kitchen, classroom and office block. This phase of works is well underway and is due to be completed by mid-November.

Richard Goodall, Director of Strategy – A Child Unheard Foundation, said “due to the condition of the roof at our school, we found ourselves in real need of a professional and compassionate construction partner. Thankfully we found NMSI and Soland listened to our needs and they have exceeded our expectations. All of us at the A Child Unheard Foundation, the school and the children want to thank NMSI and their team for their fantastic help”.

Furthermore, Soland have employed labourers from the local Ayenyah community, in turn passing on and transferring long term skills to all those involved in the project.

The launch of GIZ’s “Prevention is better than Cure” project, in partnership with NMSI, took place at the Shai Osudoku District Hospital in Dodowa on Saturday 8th Oct.

NMSI’s partnership with GIZ has progressed well over the last few months, with the foundations being laid for the initial roll out of the ‘Prevention is Better than Cure’ programme being headed by Miriam Sai, Genelec Support Services’ clinical specialist.” The programme has progressed well and on 2 September, it was introduced to local Dodowa Community leaders and stakeholders, who have consented for the project to be rolled out into the wider community. This is great news as this community engagement was always going to be crucial for the success of the programme.

It is also a great step forward in promoting preventive health measures and starting to educate communities on how to avoid risks to health and prevent illness. This is believed to be one of the first preventive health care programmes in Ghana.

The aim of this program is to provide:

• Access to information on preventive health in hospitals
• Trained staff for consultation on preventative health measures
• A bridge between traditional and modern medicine

Targeted information on high risks such as malaria, TB, HIV, waterborne viral illnesses The programme will provide for:

• Training for 30 Community volunteers and 18 Nurses from three local communities
• A 14-day Community sensitization programme delivered by the trained staff
• A 10-day screening program (BMI/Hypertension/Blood Sugar/Breast Screening/Nutrition) for the three local communities.

The launch of the programme will take place at the Shai-Osudoku District Hospital in Dodowa, built by NMS Infrastructure under the Built To Care District Hospital programme and fully handed over to the Ghana Health Service in August 2016, with three communities having been identified to participate within this programme.

GIZ will be working closely with the Ministry of Health on this and if the pilot proves to be a success, it will be rolled out into other African countries.

http://www.ghananewsagency.org/health/giz-nmsi-launch-preventvion-is-better-than-cure-project-108842?fbclid=IwAR0Fln2hQGXcKxNbUAypS8cGfBlJG3b-NAVbQScEo_RAr9RUlb3P1INIuB0

On 8th October, Germany’s International Development Organisation (GIZ) and NMSI launched a €1.3 million preventive healthcare programme. The event took place at the newly-built Shai-Osudoku District Hospital in Dodowa, where Dr Samuel Akaba, Director of Institutional Care Division, Ministry of Health, called on Ghanaians to be more responsible for their health. He said the race to get things done for the family could steal attention but knowing what can make “you healthy and less capable of achieving life goals and taking steps to stay healthy” is the best personal choice one can make.

From 11 to 15 August, Tom Vaughan of NMSI led a team of employees and volunteers on a CSR project to renovate the Noyaa Academy in Jamestown, Accra, with the help and support of the NMSI team. The roof had numerous holes meaning that during the rainy season classes were severely interrupted due to flooding, while the children’s school books and food was being destroyed. The roof was replaced with new roofing sheets; new guttering was added in order to channel run-off water and a concrete apron was constructed along the right hand side of the building to divert surface water away from the building.

In addition to the above, the team also created a new classroom, for older Year 4 students, by constructing a new partition wall in one of the larger rooms, using materials recycled from the Dodowa Hospital build.

Finally, the school exterior was completely repainted in its customary blue. Tom said: “it has been a great privilege to head up this very worthwhile CSR project. It fills me with great happiness and pride knowing that the underprivileged pupils of Noyaa may now continue their education come rain or shine and that one day they might graduate into the national education system. This could not have been achieved without the help of my colleagues here at NMS, especially my right-hand woman, Safia Wahab, and the support of the headmistress, Rachel, the students and the rest of the local community who took it upon themselves to help refurbish the school. Good job all round!” Rachel Annan, Noyaa Academy’s Headmistress said “I thank you and NMS for your help, it was so heart-warming seeing the love from the staff of NMS to us.

Words can’t express our gratitude for your efforts and the whole staff of NMS. Our roof is all fixed and painted. A classroom created to add up to what we have, and the kids will be so happy, and we won’t have to be shifting from one place to the other when it rains”