Posted on November 27, 2008

Accordia Global Health Foundation Receives $12.5 Million From Gates Foundation

Accordia Global Health Foundation, formerly the Academic Alliance Foundation, has announced a $12.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a study designed to identify the most effective and cost-efficient way to prepare healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa to treat infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.

The three-year study is expected to help inform donors and countries about the most effective education and training models for mid-level healthcare providers in Africa, where clinical officers, nurses, and other mid-level practitioners outnumber doctors six to one. Training mid-level practitioners to perform tasks conventionally assigned to doctors could play a vital role in helping sorely strained health workforces in resource-limited settings better address the needs of their patients

The study, which will be conducted at thirty-two sites throughout Uganda, will evaluate the impact of the new training program on clinical behavior and patient health. It also will test whether or not the incremental impact of on-site support services relative to classroom training alone can be cost-effective.

"The grant enables Accordia to further refine our model of best practices in healthcare education, building on our years of experience training health professionals in Africa," said Dr. Warner Greene, Accordia President. "The research will determine which specific approaches to infectious disease training have the greatest impact on the overall healthcare system, and could change how millions of dollars are being spent globally."