American Schools and Hospitals Abroad Program
What is the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad Program?
For more than fifty years, USAID’s American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) program has been expanding educational and medical opportunities in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East, by supporting institutions that demonstrate America's high educational and medical standards.
The ASHA program provides grants to competitively selected organizations, including private, non-profit universities and secondary schools, libraries, and medical centers that best demonstrate American ideas and practices. These educational and medical institutions create a foundation for development by training future leaders in a wide variety of disciplines, while providing an understanding of American economic, scientific and social practices and institutions.
How does the program work?
ASHA grants assist in capital improvements, such as building or renovation of facilities, and procurement of scientific, medical and educational commodities. Institutions are encouraged to fund a portion of their operating expenses from tuition, fees, private contributions and earnings from endowments.
Grants are awarded annually to local organizations that are sponsored or founded by United States citizens/organizations, following a competitive assessment of the merits of sponsors, institutions, and the rationale for the project. Since its inception, the ASHA program has facilitated the development of 237 superior libraries, schools, and medical centers in over 70 countries. The program currently manages a worldwide portfolio of over 200 grants. Up to 40 new grants are awarded every year.
What institutions does the program support in Kenya?
AIC-CURE International Children’s Hospital
CURE International, in cooperation with the African Inland Church, opened the AIC-CURE International Children's Hospital in Kijabe, Kenya in 1998. AIC-CURE International Children's Hospital was Africa's first orthopedic/pediatric teaching hospital for children with disabilities. The 30-bed hospital provides care for children suffering from conditions like clubfoot, cleft lip and cleft palate, curvature of the spine and disabilities stemming from polio, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and other congenital abnormalities.
Currently, Kenya has only 20 trained Orthopedic Surgeons serving a total population of 32 million, with most of these surgeons in private practice. AIC-Cure International has established the Orthopedic Residency training program, a first in Kenya.
Through the ASHA program, USAID awarded $900,000 to CURE International to construct and furnish the Orthopedics Residence Facility. This includes the building of a dormitory, conference center, and an operating room, and provided funding to furnish and equip the new buildings.
African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF)
AMREF is one of Africa’s leading health development and research organizations. The organization focuses on creating healthy communities, training health workers, strengthening health systems, and conducting advocacy and research. AMREF implements its projects through country programs in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Senegal, South Sudan and South Africa. Training and consulting support are provided to an additional 30 African countries. AMREF has been globally recognized and rewarded for its pioneering work in community-based health care and development.
A key feature in AMREF's training is the emphasis on collaboration with American Universities and research institutions such as Tulane University, UCLA, St. Lawrence University, Johns Hopkins University and Duke University. Such collaborations give African faculty and students the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with counterparts from American Universities. At the same time, the exposure to AMREF projects during field work has been hailed by the American students and academicians as excellent learning experiences.
AMREF’s current ASHA Grant of $400,000 is supporting construction of a residential facility, two classrooms, training research laboratory, E-Learning center and a kitchen and dining facility for the International Training Center.
Presbyterian Church of East Africa Tumutumu Hospital
Located in Karatina, 85 miles/137 kilometers north of Nairobi, Tumutumu hospital was started in 1909 by missionaries from the Church of Scotland. With 203 beds and a staff of 250, the hospital provides quality services to the public in an area where quality medical services are in scarce supply. The Tumutumu Nursing School has been recognized for its excellence, and the hospital also offers training for Accountants, Pharmaceutical Technologists, Laboratory Technologists, Medical Records and Catering.
The hospital and the associated nursing school have a long tradition of working in partnership with American medical professionals, which has led to an emphasis on evidence-based healthcare. A number of U.S. based medical professionals spend time volunteering and working on staff development and continuing education at Tumutumu. The hospital currently receives funding through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and its library relies heavily on books and medical journals from the USA.
An ASHA grant in the amount of $400,000 has been given for the Phase II construction of a laboratory sciences complex for the Tumutumu School of Nursing, including additional classrooms and a dining facility.
St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School
St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School was founded in 2004 in the Kibera informal settlement in Nairobi with the mission of providing a supportive learning environment to children and teenagers who had been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Under a previous ASHA grant, the school was able to construct a new building to serve 420 students in the Langata neighborhood of Nairobi. Current ASHA funding in the amount of $750,000 is being used to purchase commodities for the new school campus including furniture, educational equipment and technology.
For more information:
Mary Herbert
American Schools and Hospitals Abroad Program
Africa and Middle East Programs
Email: MHerbert@usaid.gov
Jane Mwangi
Program Development Specialist
USAID/Kenya, Program Design & Analysis
Tel: +254 20 862 2000
Email: jmwangi@usaid.gov
Updated October 2012
