On Call africa

Who we are

On Call Africa was set up by a group of doctors and international development experts, all with a shared desire to improve access to healthcare and health outcomes within rural communities. In particular, looking to support communities with traditionally poor access to medical professionals and amenities – Zambia was selected due its low ratio of doctors to people. Following a consultation with the Ministry of Health, the Southern Province was selected as the starting point.

We work in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Rural Health Facilities, volunteer Doctors from the UK, and delivery partners to support the development of strong and effective rural health systems in Southern Province, Zambia. We also work with Rural Health Facilities that have been identified by the Ministry of Health as being in need of capacity building and support. With these Rural Health Facilities we map their catchment area, carry out in depth assessments of health facility needs, and the needs of their communities, and use these to work with the health facility staff to develop detailed quality improvement and implementation plans to improve access to and quality of healthcare. Once in place we work with the Ministry of Health, and our partners to deliver identified programmes of work.

Every year our clinical volunteers help us to build capacity of 7 rural health facilities, train Community Health Workers, develop quality improvement plans, and support health promotion programmes. All of this would not be possible without the expertise and support of our volunteers.

Currently we are involved with quality improvement projects, reviewing resources we use to deliver medical care, provide training and raise health awareness messages. On top of this we are utilising technical knowledge to change the way we use digital technology share data and manage finances, as well as supporting the Ministry of Health with the development of public health intervention plans, national guidelines and policies.