The Mark Towriss Bursary Fund
Supporting GP training in East Africa
Dr Mark Towriss was dedicated to general
practice and to the Bottisham Surgery community
in particular. He loved to share with his
patients the cycle of life: birth, death, illness,
crisis - and renewed health. His enthusiasm for
medical education, interest in the world, and
innate human empathy made him a fine teacher
of medical students and GP registrars.
When his daughter, Catriona, worked in rural
Uganda in 2006, Mark visited her village. He
was struck by the enormous health challenges
facing small communities without the resource
of an accessible GP practice. His wish was to
find a supportive link to an East African
primary healthcare centre. But his life was
already full to bursting and this dream
remained unfulfilled when he died suddenly in
the midst of life, aged 54.
The Mark Towriss Bursary Fund seeks to fulfil Mark’s wish, thereby
narrowing, just a little, the huge discrepancy between the UK and East African
health provision.
Bottisham surgery has 5,450 patients within a 6-mile radius
The surgery is
served by theequivalent of three full-time qualified general practitioners,
each having had at least 5 yearspost-graduate training. Within a 20-mile radius
there are three fully-equipped general hospitals, providing comprehensive
24-hour emergency medical service of surgeons, physicians, anaesthetists, etc.
for all – regardless ofability to pay.
In Kenya there are 4,000 doctors for 32 millionpeople
One doctor for every
16,000 people – inclusive of all specialties. Moreover,approximately 80%
of all doctors practise inurban areas whereas almost 80% of the population
live in rural areas, often far from a town. Doctors working in rural areas,
therefore, need to be multi-skilled in order to meet, with basic resources,
the wide-ranging needs of their numerous patients. Family doctors need to
repair wounds and perform emergency caesarean sections, treat out breaks of
infectious diseases and illness due to poor nutrition as well as care for the
many suffering from AIDS. Equally pressing is the need for leadership in
promoting preventative healthcare and working with and motivating community
health workers; for example supporting the skills of traditional birth
attendants who are often the only care available to womenin childbirth. For
such a monumental task, most doctors receive only 1 year’s training
while working in rotation through medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics, and
surgery. The relatively new discipline of Family Medicine provides a 3-year
programme to properly equip doctors with the broad skills needed to be able to
make a difference.
Left: First M Med 2005 Bursary recipients with family medicine faculty (both with medical bags): Dr Peter Mwaka is now working as a family doctor at Kijabe hospital and Dr Patrick Chege, now appointed lecturer in Moi University family medicine dicision and working in Webuye district hospital.
We are partnering with The Institute of Family
Medicine (INFA-MED) in Nairobi. In association with Moi University Medical
School
Kenya and five district hospitals, INFA-MED
now runs a comprehensive 3-year post-graduate
Master of Medicine in Family Health. The first
cohort graduated in 2008!
Core modules include:
- adult medical problems;
- infectious and chronic diseases;
- child health and paediatrics;
- maternal and reproductive health,
including family planning and obstetrics;
- trauma and surgical specialties;
- behavioural health;
- cultural and spiritual concepts;
- community health and programme
administration;
- epidemiology and research methods.
However vital family
medicine skills are,
training is not affordable for many doctors.
This bursary intends
to raise 75% of a doctor’s annual tuition
fee for the duration
of their 3 years training.
AND we’ve committed to support ‘a doctor
a year’ commencing
in Autumn 2009.
This year we need
around £1,200. We’ll
need twice this sum in 2010, and three times as
much for 2011, before the sum reduces in steps
in 2012 and 2013.
Please give generously. If we can help transform three communities, it will
provide a
lasting legacy that Mark would be proud of.
The bursary fund is received by AIM (Africa Inland
Mission), registered charity in England and Wales
(1096364) and is allocated to the Family Medicine
Leadership Development Fund, Kenya. This Fund
has been set up solely to receive funds donated in
Mark’s name, and successful applicants will formally
receive ‘The Mark Towriss Bursary’.
