Our primary objective is to continue supporting the growing Interventional Radiology training program at the University of Nairobi at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. RAD-AID’s mission is to help provide radiology services around the world, primarily in underserved populations. Interventional Radiology helps perform numerous minimally invasive procedures throughout the body utilizing different imaging modalities such as US, CT, and Fluoroscopy.
With the help of Dr. Anton, the Associate Director for RAD-AID, the organization has helped build an Interventional Radiology Fellowship at the University of Nairobi, the first of its kind in Kenya. Our goal is to continue providing education conferences, high-fidelity simulation training, case review, and intraprocedural case support with our group consisting of an IR attending, two IR fellows, nurses, and IR technologists from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
We will additionally provide clinical support in the care of their patients, providing procedural expertise and consultation during real-world cases, ultimately helping their trainees acquire the skills necessary to become independent and skilled Interventional Radiologists.
Directly, our efforts will benefit the Interventional Radiology program at the University of Nairobi. Given the highly technology and device driven services, early adoption of IR is generally hindered in resource-limited settings. There is significant desire for support and education for continued development of IR services, and education and training are at the forefront of that.
Ultimately, our efforts are to benefit the people of Kenya and beyond within Eastern Africa. Per WHO reports, approximately 4 billion people around the world lack appropriate access to radiology, and additional underserved communities lack access to Interventional Radiology services. Minimally invasive, potentially life-saving procedures treating a broad range of conditions provide numerous advantages to traditional surgical options, often with significant decreases in morbidity and mortality. Providing these needed services to an underserved region and aiding in their education infrastructure, we hope to benefit the Eastern African population for years to come.
By expanding upon the minimally invasive techniques and clinical education of the IR training program at the University of Nairobi, we hope to improve upon the tools for the IR fellows to become competent physicians in the future. In training the future generation of IR, I believe our efforts will lay a foundation for sustainable education at the University of Nairobi and beyond.
As the program in Kenya grows, as will their knowledge in treating unique disease processes, providing opportunities to advance clinical medicine locally and internationally. We look to continue fostering our growing our long-term relationship with the University of Nairobi, hoping to collaborate more frequently, both virtually and in person.
Our trip to Nairobi, Kenya led us to meet many passionate and hardworking members of the radiology and interventional radiology programs working at Kenyatta National Hospital and multiple smaller private hospitals around the city. Our daily exercises included improving logistics and systems management within the IR department, providing guidance for safe and effective procedural technique, and educating the IR fellows and residents within the department. Our hope is to impact these individuals and their department in providing safe, effective, and efficient patient care to the many underprivileged individuals they were treating. We hope to see longitudinal impact within these IR trainees as they become future IR attendings around Kenya and beyond, and hopefully to their future trainees and patients as well.
