The Umthombo Youth Development Foundation identifies, trains, and supports rural youth to become qualified health care professionals in order to address the human resource shortages at rural hospitals - thereby improving healthcare to rural communities. On completion of their training, these young health care professionals work year-for-year at one of the 17 participating rural hospitals in return for the opportunity they had to study a health science degree.

Our organisation provides academic and social mentoring support, as well as top-up financial support to these rural students during their studies, and assists them on graduation to integrate into the hospital working environment and become professional health care workers. Through our mentoring support programme our students are achieving performing better than the national statistics despite completing Grade 12 at a rural non-fee paying school. Last year, 2022, 92% of students passed all their examinations.

Our approach is sustainable and competitive from an investment point of view as can be seen here: while the cost of training 254 graduates (2015 graduate numbers) was R186 million, these graduates will pay R1,2 billion in personal income tax over their lifetime.

To date 574 health science graduates have been produced (218 are Doctors), the majority of which are working in public health care facilities in Kwa-Zulu-Natal. In addition, 54% of our graduates are young women! The Umthombo graduates become role models in their communities and encourage the rural youth to work hard so they too can obtain a university education leading to employment.

This year we are supporting 196 rural youth to study 14 different health science degrees. For more in-depth information on our organization, read our latest Annual Report or visit www.umthomboyouth.org.za

For further information:

• Tel: +27 (0)31-765-5774
• Fax: +27 (0)86 577 5774
• Email: info@umthomboyouth.org.za