Twinning Center

AIHA has a vast of experience in managing locally driven health system strengthening projects in 34 countries straddling the globe. The organisation was established in 1992 starting with hospital-to-hospital partnerships. The organisation has implemented a number of projects through traditional consultancy-based methods. The majority projects are in Africa, many of these projects were implemented through an innovative peer-to-peer partnership methodology that mobilizes substantial voluntary commitment on the part of the U.S. health sector.

AIHA's twinning partnership model believes that healthcare professionals are more open to new ideas when they work together with people who face the similar challenges in their lives. Through twinning the organisation participates in leading academic institutions, clinical centres of excellence, professional societies and associations, and a broad and diverse range of dedicated health-related professionals associated with the U.S. health sector.

The Twinning Center have built ZAMCOM's capacity as a media training institution with the objective of increasing public awareness about HIV/AIDS through improved media coverage of the epidemic. This innovative initiative focused on improving the accuracy, quality, and scope of HIV/AIDS-related coverage in mass media outlets throughout Zambia and other PEPFAR-supported countries by training journalists and editorial staff.

AIHA's Hospital Strengthening Program establishes twinning partnerships that focus on building the institutional and human resource capacity to effectively respond to local healthcare needs and priorities at the tertiary level.

Healthcare-associated infections prolong hospital stays, increase resistance to life-saving medications, create long-term disability, drive up costs and even result in death. These infections affect a large majority of people and often stems from inadequate infrastructure and equipment, under-staffing and overcrowding, poor hygiene and waste disposal, unsafe procedures, lack of guidelines and policies, and a lack of basic infection control knowledge and implementation.

Weak professional education and a death of postgraduate or in-service training opportunities for health and allied caregivers contribute to significant knowledge and skills gaps that have a negative impact on the scope and quality of patient care. With the majority of healthcare resources often being consumed by tertiary care, an increased focus on improving the quality and efficiency of hospital-based care is a priority for many developing and transitioning countries worldwide.

AIHA twinning programs maximize voluntary contributions of professional expertise, equipment, and materials, to leverage donor resources effectively. AIHA's TCP partnerships have provided in-service training for health and allied care providers and graduated individuals from pre-service programs at partner institutions worldwide.

The organisation has also placed highly skilled professionals in long-term assignments throughout the country using the TCP's Volunteer Healthcare Corps; these highly skilled professionals have collectively contributed their professional capacity to strengthen health system.