Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) hosts the highest burden of pediatric mortality globally. Current evidence demonstrates that high pediatric morbidity and mortality could be reduced by more effective emergency care. While emergency medicine is a relatively new specialty in the region, training programs focused primarily on adult emergency care have been implemented in 12 countries across the continent. However, despite the region’s high burden of disease from acute pediatric illness, there exists only two pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) fellowship program in SSA. Over the past 3 years I have worked with partners in Ghana to get approval for the first Ghanian fellowship in pediatric emergency and critical care. Fellows are starting in August and I plan to travel with partners from CHOP and Mayo Clinic to complete the first in person teaching conference September 17-20. This will be 3 days of teaching not only for the new fellows but also for 40-50 residents in pediatrics and emergency medicine across the country, primarily from Accra and Kumasi. This is in addition to ongoing virtual education that will continue before and after the in-person event. The inaugural conference program will include basic and advanced resuscitation skills taught through simulated events and procedures that can only be taught well in person. We will introduce ultrasound skills that require in person guidance. The fellowship is run through the Ghanian College of medicine. Before leading the inaugural PEM conference in Kumasi, I will also participate in a second conference run by Africa Partners Medical. This is a 3-day conference to empower young physicians (1st 5 years after medical school) in Africa to aim for the highest possible standards of healthcare for their patients by balancing medical knowledge, practice, physician-patient relationships, ethics and limited resources. I will be teaching ultrasound skills, Basic Life Support, Newborn and Pediatric Resuscitation to 30-40 participants.
Our inaugural pediatric emergency and critical care conference targets 40-50 physicians including the first Ghanian pediatric emergency medicine-critical care fellows in our new program, emergency medicine residents, and pediatric residents from both Kumasi and Accra who will attend the conference. We will be teaching critical skills in the resuscitation of children at Komfo Anokye teaching hospital (KATH) Hospital. KATH is a 1,200 bed academic tertiary medical facility located in Kumasi, Ghana the second largest city in Ghana with a population of approximately two million persons. Ghana is a lower-middle–income country in West Africa with a population of approximately 29.6 million persons. The KATH ED sees more than 35,000 visits per year of patients of all ages. The general ED is staffed by attending faculty and resident physicians training in Emergency Medicine while the pediatric ED is staffed by pediatricians without formal fellowship training in PEM in addition to pediatric and emergency medicine residents. Attending physicians at KATH are partnering with the global emergency teams as Boston Children's, Mayo Clinic, and CHOP to create this program. When possible, education will be recorded as permitted by faculty to create a reusable database of didactic material. This will supplement ongoing virtual education that will be sent in the form of virtual mentorship meeting, recorded lectures, and forums that will allow for continued teaching and mentoring.
I will also participate in a second conference run by Africa Partners Medical. This is a 3-day conference/training to empower young physicians (1st 5 years after medical school) in Africa to aim for the highest possible standards of healthcare for their patients by balancing medical knowledge, practice, physician-patient relationships, ethics and limited resources. I will be teaching ultrasound skills, Basic Life Support, newborn and pediatric Resuscitation (Helping Babies Breathe).
This is the first in person didactic of a fellowship that is jointly run by African and American partners, led by our African partners in Kumasi, Ghana. As the founding conference we hope to supplement ongoing virtual education with didactics that can only be taught in person. Mentorship is ongoing and in-person mentorship will strengthen ongoing virtual efforts. The conference is designed to supplement ongoing virtual education that will be offered in the form of virtual mentorship meeting, recorded lectures, and forums that will allow for continued teaching and mentoring. The clinical fellowship is led on the ground by partners at KATH, including Dr. John Appiah who will be the fellowship director. If this model works well we plan to extend the opportunity to participate in the fellowship to other West African countries next year to slowly grow pediatric emergency and critical care in the region. Ghana currently has no pediatric emergency trained physicians and only one pediatric critical care physician, Dr. Appiah. We are planning a separate ultrasound skills course later in the year to build off skills taught in this conference.
Unfortunately, as a fellow at Boston Children's myself it is difficult to fund my travel to these conferences even though I am leading the conference at KATH. Your support is greatly needed to ensure I can travel to coordinate and teach this first conference.
By completing our first pediatric emergency medicine conference in Ghana we were able to train pediatric and emergency medicine resident to resuscitate critically ill children and kick off the new fellowship program for the first fellow in Ghana in pediatric emergency medicine and critical care. Participants were trained in critical procedures that will be life saving for children in Ghana. After the conference, participants felt they would not only be able to improve the care they give to critically ill children but also reported improved ability to counsel families and involve families in care.
