The ability to impact underserved communities is what drives my desire to participate in the Rwandan Endoscopy trip. With the help of the Doximity grant, I will be able to partake in GI rising- an organization committed to providing sustainable, impactful GI care to the Rwandan community. The post genocide initiative to improve health access in Rwanda has dramatically changed in the last 30 years. GI Rising came into existence to help create access to state-of-the-art GI care and to change trends in mortality from GI cancers. An important part of accomplishing this mission has been the creation of Rwanda Endoscopy Week (REW), an intensely collaborative week(s) during which gastroenterology faculty from around the world travel to Rwanda to provide high-level care to patients while teaching Rwandan physicians endoscopic skills via both lectures and hands-on training. As GI faculty, in addition to providing direct patient care to over hundreds of patients, I will be able to work directly with Rwandan endoscopists, fellows in training from across the world as well as those in training in Rwanda to teach skills in a hands-on format.
During the week long trip, I will be in one of several locations; either deployed to a smaller community, hours from Kigali to set up for endoscopies through the week. We will work out of hospitals which we will outfit to serve as endoscopy suites. I will oversee a team of at least 3-4 people and will be responsible for performing upper and lower endoscopies to the mass community. If stationed in Kigali, I will work out of one of three areas – an outpatient clinic that will serve over 50 patients per day; a teaching hospital where I will help train and take care of patients in need of specialty/interventional care; or at the military hospital which also provides general and therapeutic endoscopies. In total, we will serve over 1000 patients through the week.
Rwanda is a small country of approximately 14 million people in East Africa whose health care system was decimated by the 1994 genocide. In 12 weeks, over 1 million Rwandan people died or were displaced at the hands of their friends, relatives, and countrymen. Many who died were physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers that sustained the country's healthcare system.
In the past 30 years, Rwanda has made enormous strides to recreate and reimagine its healthcare system. In 2012 the Rwandan government led the Human Resources for Health Program (HRH Program), a bold training initiative to fill the shortage of health professionals. The goal of the HRH
program was to build a large, competent healthcare workforce to sustain a new innovative Rwandan healthcare system. The Rwanda Society for Endoscopy (RSE) was formed in 2017 with the goals of providing patient care and training
providers in endoscopy, promoting sustainability. During the bi-annual Rwandan Endoscopy week, patients across the country have access to international physicians and endoscopic interventions. As an example of the impact, in 2017, 244 endoscopic procedures were performed and the program has grown annually where in 2022, over 1000 procedures were performed at 7 sites, some of which had never before had endoscopic services. Most recently, in 2024, we served over 1400 Rwandans in both Kigali and the more remote areas of the country.
The impact of Rwanda Endoscopy week through GI Rising is notable on a micro and macro level. The goal of allowing direct access to care during the weeks we are in-country, allow for thousands of patients to access care that would otherwise not be possible given the challenges within the Rwandan health care system. Patients with mild GI symptoms may not be granted access to care because of scarcity of resources and often wait until our international group is available. More impactful, however, is sustainability through education and training. Over the first five years of the HRH initiative,99 physicians a year traveled from US teaching
hospitals to Rwanda to help with this goal. Its success is
apparent in that 22 new training programs were established which graduated
over 4600 health professionals by 2019. Now, with GI rising and bi-annual trips planned well in advance, sometimes with US brigades of 20-40 practitioners, we can spread our wings over multiple sites and thus, accessing multiple populations. Many of the remote areas will not see GI physicians until our brigades come through.
The impact of the Doximity grant will allow for such access and sustainable care.
The Doximity foundation grant allowed me to provide GI. Care in the underserved area of Giseyni, Rwanda bordering the Republic of Congo. Throughout the week, a small team of us served over 100 patients through endoscopic services that would otherwise be unavailable to them. The Doximity grant allowed me the opportunity to impact a local community in profound ways, allowed me to teach physicians endoscopic skills that would otherwise not be available and allowed us to form bonds with colleagues there that transcend continents!
The grant allowed me to take a fellow and show her the experience of global outreach and our impact.
I am so grateful this grant was available and helped me get across the world to provide care in the most meaningful way!
