fdisAfrica Humanitarian Action (AHA) is a non-governmental organization that provides relief services to countries in Africa. It was founded by Dr. David Zawde in 1994 in response to the Rwandan genocide.
In 1994, the Rwandan genocide occurred. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in Rwanda, Africa. At this time, Dr. Dawit Zawde, a medical doctor in Ethiopia, noticed the lack of an African response and organized a medical team to respond out of Kigali. Formally launched in Addis Ababa, within months of its opening, AHA sent two teams of young health and relief professionals during the Rwandan crisis.These professionals hailed from seven African countries—Benin, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, Malawi, Rwanda, and Senegal, becoming the first African-only Non-government organization (NGO) operating in Rwanda. The AHA teams targeted returnee populations and the internally displaced as they were deployed at two health centers, one in the northwest region at Tare in the Kigali Prefecture and a second at Kabarondo in Kibungo Prefecture in the southeast. They provided unprecedented 24-hour emergency health services and regular out and in-patient care. As the operation in Rwanda grew, AHA decided to extend their presence to other countries in Africa. By the end of 1995, AHA had moved to Uganda, Angola and began operations in Ethiopia. By the end of 1999, the framework that was implemented in Eastern and Central Africa by AHA had now been transferred to offices in Western Africa. it currently operate in 20 African countries
History
1995–1999
AHA in 1995, published their objectives, in order to establish their focus with humanitarian efforts, which are listed below:
Provide humanitarian relief and sustained development support to distressed communities in Africa Equip displaced people and refugees with the basic skills necessary to deal with disaster situations Develop indigenous capabilities in disaster prevention, preparedness, relief management and recovery Create and assist independent, non-profit, non-sectarian, and non-governmental organizations in Africa that embrace their own ideals and objectives Research, develop, and disseminate information and policies involving governments, institutions, and local communities aimed at reducing the scope and scale of conflict as well as their prevention and resolution Set up a database of readily available African professional resources for relief and sustainable development initiatives.
After this was published, AHA focus turned to Uganda and Angola. In Uganda, AHA built from scratch the infrastructures required to provide health and related services in parts of the country where such facilities were not available. In Angola, AHA became part of a massive international effort to rebuild a nation largely reduced to ashes and rubble. Growth forecast for Africa during the 1990s fell short of expectations. In 1994, 35 million people remained at risk from famine; and 20 million others were displaced by conflict and natural disasters while millions more were succumbing to treatable diseases.
In Rwanda, AHA expanded from just providing health services to on-the-job training for Rwandan health personnel. As the emotional and psychological repercussions of the crisis started to take a hold of the post-genocide Rwandan population, AHA expanded its services to include psychological issues. AHA found that women and children were the major victims of the emotional and psychological changes and along with the UN Fund for Women / Africa Women in Crisis Programme, they began care and counseling services. In 1996, the Rwandan Ministry of Health and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) invited AHA to play a bigger role in the health sector. AHA was then given management responsibility for the health district of Rwinkwavu in Kibungo Prefecture in the east and Mugonero health district.
In 1997, AHA expanded the process of community-based development in Rwanda, which helped AHA improve the health of about 60,000 people. AHA also made it an important project to improve the physical condition of health facilities and restore essential services for refugees/returnees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and host communities living in the three districts. AHA has fostered local participation in the actual restoration work of the health units. AHA served about 115,000 patients and started different programs that included maternal and child health treatment, family planning, vaccinations and treatment of acute and chronic illnesses.
AHA also started building houses for 360 families and handed over the completed houses to beneficiaries in Musasa, Rushashi, and Tare communes. At the end of the decade, UNHCR and AHA worked on a project in the northwest of the country; however this was halted due to financial constraints. AHA continued to providehealth care services to returnees and the local population as the rest of the international NGO community retreated due to security concerns and deteriorating conditions.
In 1995, AHA entered Uganda providing services to refugee settlers in Mongula, East Moyo District, which borders Sudan. These early AHA refugees all hailed from Sudan, following the escalation of fighting between the Sudanese government forces and its southern opponents. AHA provided immunization services, reproductive health care, preventive activities, environmental hygiene, and general health education. At the end of the year, AHA also started training a selected group of refugees in the health and sanitation sectors. In 1996, however, AHA evacuated its international and senior staff from Adjumani in East Moyo to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, due to the deteriorating conditions on the ground. AHA also began to manage two health posts previously under the management of Medecins Sans Frontiers – Swiss at Kolididi and Mirieyi. Insurgents also attacked and abducted about 20 refugees and local people including AHA's medical assistant during 1997. By 1999, due to a calming of the chaos, health services were extended to 71,000 refugees and 36,000 nationals living in Adjumani District through 22 health units under AHA management.
Angola, entered by AHA in 1995, was part of a massive international effort that resembled the intervention in Rwanda and by the end of the year, Cazombo Municipal Hospital and three other rural hospitals as well as a health post in Kafaria were receiving support from AHA. Cazombo Hospital covered about 2/3s of the entire country and by 1996; there was a notable fall in the morbidity pattern. The mortality rate stood at 2.3% at the end of 1996, from a high of nearly 5%. Health care in Angola was defined by producing preventive/curative health care, general education/information, and sanitation, while hospitals were being equipped with laboratory and surgical equipment. Drug distribution proved harder than it was thought to be. However, by the end of 1997, Cazombo had their own distribution points of clean potable water, giving the residents easy access to water for the first time in decades. Cazombo represented great progress until the security situation greatly deteriorated to a point where it was no longer possible for AHA to soldier on. In addition, a budget decrease limited the operations and regular World Food Programme (WFP) flights to provincial towns had to be suspended in 1998. All of these problems forced AHA to be relocated to nearby Zambia.
In 1997, AHA planned to enter more countries to provide health care and other services. Burundi, Ethiopia, and Liberia had programs start in 1997, and Sierra Leone had operations but Liberia hosted the staff. AHA was the first medical oriented NGO to provide medical assistance in Burundi as they designed a project for reinforcing health care services in Burundi, aiming to cover the health needs of the population of the province and more than 40,000 displaced/dispersed and regrouped people in 17 camps. In Ethiopia, AHA focused on family planning and welfare services in Shashemene in the Oromia Regional State. The projects undertaken in Ethiopia were worked on jointly with indigenous NGOs such as LEM, the Environment, and Development Society of Ethiopia, and other national and international NGOs already established in both areas. The project in Liberia started as a trial project with the government as the project focused on both Liberia and Sierra Leone. By the end of 1999, AHA planned to extend its services to West Africa after the then-OAU approved funds amounting to US$100,000 as a first installment of a two-project cost, estimated at over US$1.5 million in total.
2000–2005 In the year 2000, AHA was actively working in six countries with emergency relief, refugee, and health programmes. The biggest problem AHA faced was the lack of funding for the institutional structures that would make all of its goals a reality. In order to maintain its activities, AHA needed US$350,000.
An estimated three million people were displaced in Angola at the onset of the millennium. At UNHCR's request, AHA took on projects for IDPs in three provinces, Maquela do Zombo in Uige and M’Vanza Congo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – from July to December. AHA worked in three camps for the displaced, Malanje, Moxico and Mussenge, and a camp for Katangese refugees. AHA provided the refugees and IDPs with water and sanitation, income generation, housing construction and the building of community centers. AHA became the implementing agency for the water, sanitation, health, and community mobilization components of a UNHCR project. In partnership with OXFAM, it undertook the installation of six water points.
In 2000, AHA continued a two-year programme funded by Pathfinder International to develop family planning, reproductive health services, and STI/HIV/AIDS prevention in two Ethiopian districts. AHA took interest in Shashemene because it has one of the country's main highways passing through it, indirectly contributing to the commercial sex trade in that region. The second selected was Gofa Zuria, 525 km from Addis Ababa, because of minimal infrastructure, low socio-economic development and poor health status.
AHA provided health, nutrition, sanitation, and water services to Congolese and Burundian refugees in Rwanda throughout the year supplying staff and technical support to the surgical unit of Kibuye Hospital. The program maintained a health centre for 13,232 Congolese refugees in Kiziba camp. In 2000 alone, the health care center in Kiziba refugee camp gave 24,152 consultations and hospitalized 630 people.
In Uganda, AHA provides integrated health services to refugees and nationals living in Adjumani district through 24 health units and when the year began AHA targeted 71,392 refugees and 34,000 Ugandans. By the year's end, births, deaths, and new refugee arrivals had brought refugee numbers to 73,590. Ante-natal care (ANC), pre- and post-natal care, family planning, adolescent sexuality and monitoring of GBV activities were conducted throughout this period via both static and outreach service delivery points. Out of 1,942 deliveries, 87% were assisted by health units or by traditional birth attendants (TBA).
With inputs from OAU, AHA provided short-term assistance to Sierra Leonean refugees relocated in Sinje, funneling aid through Southwestern Liberia with UNHCR's help. AHA provided for 2,000 families and agricultural tools, seedlings and fertilizers for 460 farming groups. AHA sought funding for two health projects in support of Sierra Leonean refugees in Maryland and in Upper Lofta counties.