Inside Tomorrow's Pharmacist (2001)

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The Neema story so far

The Neema story so far by Emily Horwill

Over the past couple of years, more than a few of you will have donated a pound or two to raffles, auctions, race nights, sunglasses days, pantomimes and abseils to help make the project a reality. But have you ever wondered where your cash has actually gone, or whether that dispensary was ever going to get built? Well if you thought the project was built and finished, you'd be wrong! But it's certainly come a very long way and the best is yet to come. So here's a brief history of what you've helped to achieve so far.

1993

A meeting between a Catalonian and Tanzanian student created the idea of IPSF funding its own village concept project, a type of project that medical students' associations had been running for a few years. The aim of any village concept project is to provide a sustainable improvement in the health and welfare of the chosen village, which means working with the villagers to help create a better future for them.

1997

After trying for a long time to raise the necessary funds, the Catalonian students decided to hand the project over to another organisation. So at the IPSF congress in Vancouver, Canada, a challenge was set. The Canadian and American students agreed to help try to keep the dream alive, and slowly but surely money from students all over the world started rolling in — from efforts such as lecture room streaks in Aberdeen to golfing tournaments in Canada.

1998

At the IPSF congress in Finland, the British Pharmaceutical Students' Association (BPSA) joined the international co-ordinating group for the project. The original idea for the project had been to renovate an old building to create the dispensary, but as this building fell short of the required Tanzanian government standards, a new one had to be built from scratch — no easy task when you don't know the first thing about building! Luckily by this point enough money had been raised to complete the first stage of the building, with villagers and Tanzanian students even helping to make bricks.

1999

Work on the dispensary building was completed and the mother and child health care unit was also finished. Money from fundraising continued to pour in. The BPSA "hike for Neema" where 20 young pharmacists and pharmacy students hiked the three peaks of Yorkshire (8,000 feet and 26 miles) raised over £2,000.

2000

Work on the accommodation block for the visiting students began. On 1 May, the application process for students to live and work in the village was launched, with the BPSA in charge of collecting and sorting through the applications from enthusiastic students. The first students were set to arrive in the village on 1 May 2001, and in August, the BPSA abseil down the Society headquarters raised over £5,000 to help complete the accommodation block. In September two members of the co-ordinating group visited the site, and the day was declared a national holiday! The village elders held a special ceremony to sign the project protocol and the day was even featured on Tanzanian television.

2001

Finally, after years of anticipation the villagers greeted the first participants in the middle of May 2001 and saw the Neema dispensary officially opened on 27 May. Diane Gal, one of the Canadian students and the co-ordinator of the project, attended the opening ceremony and had this to say:

"The opening ceremony was a wonderful celebration with various dances, presentations, poetry, and short theatrical skits performed by local people, showing how the dispensary can be used by the local people. Many international guests took part in the event, including several executive members of the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association of whom the president, John Bell, shouted out an enthusiastic 'Kiromo Oooyee' — a standard welcome greeting to the villagers from Kiromo, which they warmly returned. Other international guests included four students and their lecturer from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland — they were on an exchange in Tanzania — a student from Kenya, and two Canadian students who had been involved in the co-ordination of the project. The local support was also strong with various members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Tanzania, the Pharmacy Board of Tanzania, district government representatives, members of the local Neema co-ordinating group and local students taking part in the event. One of the local sponsors, MSD, was also able to attend the opening ceremony. The guest of honour, the deputy minister of health for Tanzania, said he was proud of the initiative the local pharmacy students had taken and encouraged other student groups in Tanzania to start similar projects.

"The event lasted for over four hours with more and more local villagers arriving throughout the ceremony and the day finished with people mingling and viewing the dispensary. Well, not quite. Just as the last of the villagers left the new local clinical officer and the nurse informed the international participants that a women was waiting in the dispensary and ready to give birth. After 10 o'clock that night, a beautiful baby was born — and named Neema in honour of the new dispensary. The international participants were amazed at the strength of the woman who sat up after giving birth and who, after just one hour, was taken home by her family, but the dispensary offered the woman and her family the added reassurance of medical experience should there have been any difficulties with the delivery. The next morning — the first day of work at the dispensary proved to be just as busy with a short line of people patiently awaiting a consultation with some needing advice and medicines.

"It has taken a lot of dedication and enthusiasm to get the Neema project this far and for all those who have able to give a hand, we would like to say a big thank you. However, the story has only just begun since it is what happens now — the integration of the dispensary into the villagers' lives and the improvement of the villagers' health status and quality of life — that will tell us how successful the project really is!"

By the time you read this article the first rotation of the Neema project will be complete and the four international participants will be looking forward to going home knowing that they will never forget the experience of the three months they spent in Tanzania. If you would like the opportunity to participate in the Neema project too, then there are many ways that you can get involved.

See your local BPSA rep for fundraising activities in your area, visit www.bpsa.com or www.ipsf.org for more detailed up to date news on the project and how to apply. Or e-mail vicepres@bpsa.com if you're interested in becoming involved in the British co-ordinating group.

Ms Horwill is a pharmacist at Leicester General Hospital and ex vice-president of the British Pharmaceutical Students' Association