29th October, 2010
Maximising Partnerships Breakfast Briefing
AMREF UK held a breakfast briefing on Friday 29th October which focused on the role UK partnerships and innovation play to ensure better health for the people of Africa.
Held to coincide with the visit of AMREF’s new Director General Dr Teguest Guerma to the UK, the meeting drew a large audience of AMREF’s loyal corporate partner base, as well as new friends of AMREF from across the corporate, private and public sector.
Jon Snow, energetic and passionate as ever, chaired the event, encouraging everyone in the room to stand up and take action to report the positive aspects of development. ‘We need to put our shoulders to the wheel to push health successes further!’ he emphasised.
Dr Guerma outlined her vision for AMREF’s new strategy, focusing on working together as one strong international organisation with a greater variety of partners across the ‘north’ as well as increasingly within Africa.
Joe Cerrell, Director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Europe discussed the Foundation’s approach to partnerships; Claire Hitchcock from GSK applauded the long-standing partnership between GSK and AMREF, in particular the immensely successful PHASE programme. Gib Bulloch from Accenture highlighted his experiences of partnership and innovation for better health in Africa.
All stressed the importance of stronger, sustainable partnerships to ensure health programmes in Africa succeed.
The event was extremely well-received, providing an excellent forum for sharing good practice and progress for improving health in Africa.