The current phase of the ESTHER Switzerland initiative to coordinate and support partnerships in institutional health between organisations in Switzerland and low- and middle-income countries will conclude on 31st May 2022. This means that the financing of partnerships will also end on this date.

It has been a privilege to work with our dedicated partners both in Switzerland and in the institutions in other countries. Their dedication and engagement to improve the health of vulnerable populations, particularly in the difficult environment of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been inspiring.

We hope that with our support you could plant some seeds, and these will be able grow in another context in the not too distant future.

Prof. Dr. Oscar H. Franco
Chair, ESTHER Switzerland

The current phase of the ESTHER Switzerland initiative to coordinate and support partnerships in institutional health between organisations in Switzerland and low- and middle-income countries will conclude on 31st May 2022. This means that the financing of partnerships will also end on this date.

It has been a privilege to work with our dedicated partners both in Switzerland and in the institutions in other countries. Their dedication and engagement to improve the health of vulnerable populations, particularly in the difficult environment of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been inspiring.

We hope that with our support you could plant some seeds, and these will be able grow in another context in the not too distant future.

Prof. Dr. Oscar H. Franco
Chair, ESTHER Switzerland

Partnerships

Grants

Funding

Network

What is ESTHER?

ESTHER Switzerland coordinates healthcare partnerships between organisations in Switzerland and low- and middle-income countries.

Our Work

ESTHER Switzerland works through institutional health partnerships, which are financed by grants.

Resources

ESTHER Switzerland collects helpful resources about partnerships, tools and the work of partner institutions.

Paving the way to a new networking model

The ESTHER Alliance for Global Health Partnerships is transitioning at the end of 2021

The ESTHER Alliance for Global Health Partnerships, of which ESTHER Switzerland is an active member has been facilitating health partnerships since 2004. The journey began in response to the challenge of quality of care for AIDS patients in hospitals in Africa. Over the years, it grew into an Alliance involving 12 European countries engaged with hundreds of twinning partnerships across low and middle-income countries.

An ESTHER Alliance partnership to support partnerships

Evaluating Effectiveness of Institutional Health Partnerships: the EFFECt Tool

Today there are many programmes designed to improve public health globally, resulting in the creation of institutional health partnerships. This month we celebrate the release of the new version of ESTHER Alliance’s tool to measure and improve on its partnership approach.

Sharing data and protecting privacy in low- and middle-income countries

A partnership building on health research data from Malawi

“Switzerland doesn’t have a system for sharing open data in the health sciences,” says statistician Matthias Templ of the Zürich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). “It’s basically not practiced here, but it’s done by researchers in Malawi. And I think we can learn from them.”

Sharing and protecting data has become a hot topic for individuals, businesses, NGOs, companies, and countries around the world.

Adapting an ESTHER partnership in response to COVID-19

A Swiss-Malagasy partnership

In February 2020, just as the Coronavirus disease was setting out on its trip around the world, representatives of Geneva University Hospital (HUG) and Ambanja Referral District Hospital in Madagascar were finishing their application for a CHF 99,677 partnership grant from ESTHER Switzerland. In a section on Risks and Mitigation, applicants were asked to list the probability of «natural disasters or the outbreak of epidemics which could delay the implementation of activities».

«We never thought about an outbreak,» says Project Leader Caroline Benski of HUG. «It was absolutely not on our minds.»

New online community platform: Pulse!

Our ESTHER Alliance partner in the UK, the Tropical Health & Education Trust (THET) is pleased to announce the launch of Pulse, an initiative which creates an online space for health partnerships to connect, create and collaborate with one another. Pulse will enable the sharing of learning, project development and furthering a sense of community amongst Health Partnerships and volunteers. Pulse helps to create a world where health workers are empowered to grow and lead health systems strengthening worldwide. Our community supports, protects, motivates and equips the global health workforce to deliver quality health care. To join the platform today please click here.

How many Swiss hospitals are engaged with hospitals and clinics in low- and middle-income countries?

ESTHER launches survey of Swiss health partnerships to find out

Switzerland has a strong tradition of international engagement in health care, surely best known through the work of Henri Dunant and the founding of the Red Cross (now International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement). However, this tradition is also supported through innumerable smaller projects made possible by the activities of individual health care professionals working at Swiss hospitals who are engaged with hospitals and clinics in poorer countries.

The thread that led to a beautiful friendship

A Swiss–Uzbek partnership

It all began with an e-mail that no one answered. Olimjon Saidmamatov, an Uzbek economist attending an energy conference in St. Gallen, learned that ESTHER offers grants for Institutional Health Partnerships between Switzerland and low- and middle-income countries. He came from a family of doctors and was interested in helping to close the gap between Uzbek and Swiss medicine. Saidmamatov sent an email to more than 100 doctors in Switzerland, looking for a collaborator.

Fighting childhood malnutrition
How to build on past experiences

A Swiss-Tanzanian partnership

Improving child survival in Tanzania is the goal of Maja Weisser, an infectious diseases specialist from Basel, Switzerland, and Getrud Mollel, a global health professional from Kilombero, Tanzania. The recipients of a 99,862 franc ESTHER grant to improve screening for childhood malnutrition in Tanzania talk about the benefits of their north-south partnership.