Surgical Training in Resource-Limited Settings: New GHDonline.org Expert Panel

Developing surgical training programs and capacity becomes increasingly important as many countries are explore strategies in training physicians and non-physicians to perform surgical procedures in order to address workforce shortages and improve access to surgical services in resource-limited settings. As new surgical training programs are developed and implemented, careful consideration of local priorities will be crucial to creating innovative and sustainable solutions.

“A goal-oriented curriculum should be drawn up to focus on a) common/regular diseases; b) diseases that are uncommon but have severe consequences; c) rare diseases. [... It’s] important to emphasize here that trauma and rural surgery are important aspects in many resource-limited settings.” writes expert panelist Dr. Emmaneul Ameh, Professor of Surgery at the Ahmadu Bello University, in Zaria, Nigeria and Consultant Paediatric Surgeon to the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital.

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SmileTrain Cofounder Highlights the Power of IT for Surgical Training

Brian Mullaney, former Smile Train CEO, at MIT

At a recent MIT lecture, Brian Mullaney spoke about his work with Smile Train (where he was formerly the CEO), and about Surgery for the Poor, an organization he recently co-founded. Smile Train’s accomplishments are hard to deny. The organization performs over 100,000 cleft surgeries a year in 80 countries and will complete its one millionth surgery in 2013.

They’re raised nearly a billion dollars to provide cleft surgeries to children in need and their public awareness campaigns have reached as many people around the world, raising awareness about cleft and the ease with which it can be cured.

 

Smile Train attributes some of this success to their decision to invest heavily in information technology as a means to scale-up while keeping costs down.

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