MALAWI: 2 SURGEONS FOR 1 MILLION PEOPLE

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GERMANY:

~ 450 SURGEONS FOR 1 MILLION PEOPLE

 (SOURCE WHO 2013)

What if…you were at home and you suddenly experience severe abdominal pain from an inflamed appendix? If you happen to live in a privileged western country, you would have an appendectomy surgery within two hours.

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But if you happen to live in Malawi, in a rural area ...

After a few hours, you might make it over bumpy roads to a small provincial hospital. However, you would not find a trained surgeon there. Because of the lack of training opportunities Malawi has approximatly 30 surgeons for 18,6 million people, and the few are all concentrated in the larger cities. In Germany, we enjoy the privilege to have around 9310 surgeons for 18,6 million people.

Malawi is still one of the poorest countries on earth, and a simple appendicitis can quickly turn into a painful death.

Our project:

As part of the Pan-  African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS), we train Malawian doctors to become accredited surgeons. The training of a surgeon takes five years.

TRAINING THAT BUILDS CAPACITY AND SUSTAINABILITY:

TRAINING MALAWIAN SURGEONS FOR MALAWI

ESTABLISHING A MEDICAL CARE NETWORK

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Where and how?

Hospital Nkhoma Hospital, located in rural Malawi will serve as central training site.

Graduates of the training will be sent to  hospitals of a medical care network - five provincial hospitals across the country are participating.

In these provincial hospitals, the trained surgeons will not only improve the care of the local population but become multipliers of the training program. In the future, Malawian specialists will improve the medical landscape of their country independent from foreign aid. This will empower a peoples capacity to act.

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Nkhoma Hospital does not have a functioning surgical department. Therefore, to start the surgical training program, important new buildings must be constructed, and some buildings require reconstruction.

We’ll need by the next years:

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• 70,000 euros for the reconstruction of the existing operating room

• 85,000 euros for the construction of a second operating room including an intensive care unit

• 140,000 euros for equipment of the operating theaters and the intensive care unit

• 125,000 euros for 4 buildings for the residents and their families

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The start of the training program will only be possible with the construction work done.

€ 420,000 INVESTMENT IS NEEDED TO IMPROVE THE SURGICAL CARE OF THE COUNTRY