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When he first arrived on the coast of Nigeria with his wife Helen in 1960, the physician Eldryd Parry was not expecting to spend the majority of his career in Africa. He was only seconded for a year’s term there but he extended his stay by half a year. Having had a successful experience at the University College Hospital in Ibadan, the largest teaching hospital in West Africa at the time, Eldryd came back to the UK and took up academic work on health issues in Africa. What he noticed about British aid at the time was the lack of responsiveness. Rather, British aid was prescriptive and not decided by the countries in need, so in 1988 Eldryd founded the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET).
The 1990s marked a period of gradual growth for THET. It was during this time that THET was starting to use Health Partnerships as a model of supporting local communities and Ministries of Health in Africa. Our work began as a result of requests from the Deans of the Jimma and Gondar Medical Schools for help with the development of the skills of their young specialist and trainee doctors. As a result, strong and enduring partnerships were formed with Nottingham and Leicester University Hospitals.