Emory Healthcare interventional radiologists are teaming up with MedShare, an Atlanta-based non-profit, to bring critical medical supplies to a hospital in Tanzania.
Janice Newsome, MD, division director of Interventional Radiology for Emory Healthcare, Nima Kokabi, MD, and J. David Prologo, MD, will travel to Dar es Salaam, to teach interventional radiology procedures to seven physicians at Muhimbili National Hospital.
"Our goal is to close the gap in Tanzania for interventional radiology care," says Newsome, professor in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences in Emory’s School of Medicine.
Emory Healthcare physicians are working with colleagues from Yale University’s Tanzania Interventional Radiology Initiative to bring minimally invasive interventional radiology to Muhimbili National Hospital. Doctors will learn basic percutaneous procedures, including: core needle biopsy and catheter placement and build on more advanced procedures throughout this three-year fellowship.
Based on an initial readiness assessment conducted in Tanzania in 2017, researchers discovered there was not one trained interventional radiologist in the country. Tanzania has a current population of just under 60 million and is expected to exceed 100 million by 2040.
Emory Johns Creek Hospital (EJCH) donated disposable equipment for Prologo’s first visit to Tanzania in October 2018, but he says Muhimbili National Hospital needs much more.
"Tanzanian doctors are learning the technique, but are in desperate need of catheters, needles and other disposable equipment to properly care for hundreds of thousands of potential patients," says, Prologo, MD, FSIR, ABOM-D, director of Interventional Radiology at EJCH and associate professor in Emory’s School of Medicine.
Emory faculty participating in this initiative are committed to sharing their skillset in interventional radiology to improve global outcomes for generation after generation, says Newsome.
"In a few years this project has the potential to train hundreds of doctors and eventually change millions of people’s lives in this country, and throughout Africa," says Newsome. "But now, we need the resources to jumpstart this vision."
Nell Diallo, vice president of International Development for MedShare says Emory has been an invaluable partner to thenon-profit’s mission for many years.
"Equipping Tanzania’s healthcare providers with these critical tools will improve the quality of care available to patients in medically underserved communities and it will strengthen Tanzania’s health systems overall," says Diallo.
For more information on how you can donate medical supplies for the Tanzania Health Initiative, visit www.medshare.org or call 770-323-5858.