Physical Health

Fondation Dora supported a programme to expand paediatric surgery in Burkina Faso. The programme is implemented by Geneva University Hospitals (HUG).

 

Patients in Africa are twice as likely to die after undergoing surgery compared to the rest of the world (The Lancet, 2018). Paediatric surgery remains very underdeveloped in numerous sub-Saharan African countries and children suffer because of the shortage of paediatric surgeons and adequate facilities.

 

The “Geneva Project in Global Children’s Surgery” aims to promote access to paediatric surgical care and anaesthetics in a sustainable way. The goal is to reduce neonatal and infant morbidity and mortality rates by strengthening care for children and increasing the number of available services. In this way, the programme grants thousands of children access to quality surgical and anaesthetic care.

 

The teams at Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) are cooperating with Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Health and local care providers in order to:

1) improve the level of training for doctors and caregivers,

2) decentralise paediatric surgery, and
 

3) improve infrastructure.

 

Over the course of the project (five years), 16,000 children are being treated, 900 staff members (medical, paramedical, traditional) are being trained and 500 families consulted and advised.

 

What’s more, the country has been equipped with a second hospital capable of meeting paediatric surgery needs. This new facility is used as a training centre by the country’s paediatric surgeons and anaesthetists.