Hospital Strengthening

UMCOR’s Hospital Systems Strengthening (HSS) program helps United Methodist churches in Africa, Asia, and South America take stock of church-run health-care facilities and the health needs of the communities they serve.  With UMCOR funds, training and support, these facilities work to improve standards of care, governance, and community outreach and development.

Our HSS program encourages a community-based outreach model of care that sends health workers and traditional birth attendants out into the communities from their hospital base. Community health workers bring their neighbors together in schools and clinics to teach them about good health practices.  They offer care and education programs that deal with HIV and AIDS, malaria, nutrition, and maternal and child health. Regular under-five checkups and prenatal care help protect some of the most vulnerable people in their communities.

Success Story: Kissy Hospital in Sierra Leone

Although Sierra Leone is one of the top ten diamond producing countries in the world, approximately 70% of its population lives below the poverty line. The country’s infrastructure has yet to recover from a decade of civil war that took place in the late 90’s. Almost half of the working-age population survives on subsistence farming.

In the 1970s, a small hospital was started by the Swedish United Methodist Church in Kissy, an impoverished suburb in Freetown. For the first fifteen years of its existence, the health center’s situation was poor: there was no running water, only eight under qualified staff members, and the hospital received no more than five outpatients a day for outpatient care.

Starting in 1995, UMCOR and the Indiana Annual Conference supported Dr. Dennis Marke in his efforts to revitalize the clinic. A remarkable transformation ensued. Today, the UMC Health and Maternity Clinic is a 60-bed hospital with more than 50 people on staff. A maternity ward and laboratory help to extend its services, as well as a child nutrition program and HIV-testing and counseling center. Community health education is provided through local schools and clinics. Six rural clinics that serve up to 150 villages are also a part of the Kissy health network. The UMC Health and Maternity Clinic provides care regardless of each patient’s ability to pay.

Your support can help keep the Kissy United Methodist Hospital able to provide this care! Necessary medication, HIV/AIDS testing kits, safe delivery supplies for pregnant women, sutures for surgery and basic food such as milk and beans for children in the nutrition program are in constant demand. Donate to UMCOR Advance #982168, Hospital Strengthening, and continue this ministry of hope.