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The Mark Towriss Bursary Fund

Supporting GP training in East Africa

Mark Towriss Bursary style="float: left;" Fund

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.

Mark Towriss bursary fund

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.

Mark Towriss bursary fund

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.

Mark Towriss bursary fund

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’.