Where We Work

The focus of our activities to date is in the country of Namibia, a beautiful country of 2.5 million people in the south-west of Africa. Here published rates for maternal mortality are unnecessarily high, and infant and child death rates are also concerning. We are working with the Namibian government and local health care providers in an attempt to change this.

Our current projects are focused on three main hospitals in the north of the country where around three quarters of the Namibian population reside. 

Oshakati Intermediate Hospital

This is the largest and main referral hospital in the country, serving a catchment area of approx 2 million people encompassing the northern third of Namibia and a fair amount of the population of southern Angola. With 750 beds it treats close to one million patients per year, deliver over 8000 babies per year and perform 8000+ surgical procedures per year with 5 operating theatres. Anaesthesia is provided mostly by junior and trainee doctors, with only 4 specialists in a department which in Australia would have 20-30. Many other departments in the hospital have a similar shortage of specialists, relying on junior doctors to provide most of the clinical care to patients.

 Onandjokwe Intermediate Hospital

This is the oldest hospital in northern Namibia, having been first established by Finnish missionaries in 1908, and lies approximately 30 minutes drive to the east of Oshakati. A smaller but very busy referral hospital it sees approx. 25,000 admissions / year and close to 8000 deliveries / year. It has three functioning operating theatres, and two specialist anaesthetists. Our input into this hospital only started in late 2022 but will be a focus of our efforts in the future. Improving quality of anaesthesia care, supporting the medical officers in obstetrics, and teaching the senior clinicians skills in laparoscopic surgery are our current priorities.

Eenhana District Hospital

90 mins from Oshakati this 180-bed capacity hospital serves a population of around 100,000 and sees approx. 3500 deliveries per year. From 2016 to 2019 the operating theatre was closed, meaning women in labour did not have access to urgent Caesarean delivery when needed. This situation has now been rectified, but the doctors responsible for providing anaesthesia have had very little formal training. We are working with these doctors, and other staff at the hospital, to help support them to provide better care to their patients.