AMECA was founded in December 2006 by Ruth Markus, in memory of her only child, Lt. Alex Coutselos, a doctor in the British Army, who died on 15th October 2006, aged 23.
AMECA aims to fulfill Alex's aspiration to improve access to healthcare in Africa and his wish to practice medicine in rural African locations.
Typically, sub-Saharan African countries suffer from a severe lack of healthcare facilities, healthcare professionals, equipment and drugs. This is exacerbated by either non-existent or unaffordable transport to the nearest urban health facility.
Ethos
The AMECA Trust is committed to the delivery of healthcare, training of healthcare professionals and to healthcare education in sub-Saharan African countries, through sustainable initiatives.
Structure
We are a small, but growing charitable trust with four Trustees, who give their time freely and tirelessly. We work from home and keep administrative costs to an absolute minimum.
Board of Trustees: Ruth Markus, John Simpson, Lorraine Freedberg, Andrew Vesey
Patron: Tim Butcher
Tim is a former journalist with the Daily Telegraph from 1990 to 2009 as chief war correspondent, Africa bureau chief and Middle East correspondent. A great adventurer, Tim is the author of Blood River, “a journey to Africa’s broken heart” and Chasing the Devil, “the search for Africa’s fighting Spirit”. Tim is also patron to Save the Congo. For Tim's latest news and updates go to his facebook page and click 'Like'.
Charity Information: Click to view (opens in a new window)
Objectives
The establishment of medical training facilities in Africa.- Donation of Bursary Awards at Nottingham University Medical School and Nursing School to fund medical and nursing electives in African hospitals.
- The promotion of final year medical and nursing elective placements in African countries for students at Nottingham University and at other universities.
- Provision of affordable and sustainable healthcare and healthcare education for local African communities.
Beliefs
- We believe in sustainable and achievable ventures. Any healthcare initiative needs to be sustainable in the long term and should strive to solve issues at their root cause, rather than be a well intentioned, but short-term “fix”.
- We believe working in partnership with others. AMECA works with established medical schools, hospitals, doctors and organisations, both in the UK and in Africa. Such partnerships are vital to the long-term sustainability of any venture; research has shown that many projects fail because of poor understanding of relevant issues.
We believe in local community involvement and ownership. AMECA believe that only through local community input and ownership will projects survive, flourish and gain local respect and care.- We believe in keeping administrative costs to a minimum. AMECA strives to make every penny count by minimising all costs where possible. We work from our homes and reduce all expenditure to only the absolute essentials.
- We believe in donated funds being correctly applied. AMECA gives it assurance that all funds will be paid out directly to only recognised contractors and partners with a proven track record of expertise and integrity.
