I plan to travel to Tanzania to partner with local surgeons in expanding access to high quality breast reconstructive care. During this trip, our team will provide
both operative and non operative education, including hands on surgical training, discussions,
and lectures. By working alongside local providers, we aim to strengthen their ability to
independently deliver comprehensive reconstructive care long after the trip concludes.
This project will focus on women in Tanzania, where access to reconstructive
surgery remains limited. Local surgical leaders have identified a significant unmet need for
specialized reconstructive care within this population and ReSurge has partnered with them to
help address these disparities. Through collaborative education and mentorship this initiative
seeks to empower local providers to expand access to safe and sustainable reconstructive
services for their communities.
The impact of this trip extends well beyond the patients treated during the mission itself. In the
short term, we will provide free high quality reconstructive surgical care to patients who would
otherwise have limited or no access to these services. More importantly, the trip is designed to
create lasting improvements in local surgical capacity through hands on training and
mentorship. By equipping local surgeons with advanced reconstructive techniques, clinical
decision making skills, and ongoing support they will be able to continue providing care
independently. Furthermore, they can train future generations of surgeons within their
institutions. Combined with the provision of essential equipment, supplies, and educational
resources, this model fosters sustainable growth in reconstructive surgery capacity and creates
a lasting increase in access to care for the local patient population.
We helped three women with extremely large breast tissue and severe pain with breast reconstructions. We also had two young ladies who survived breast cancer with disfigurement and one patient had a litmus door side flap rotated for reconstructive surgery. The other young woman had a free flap done for reconstructive surgery after breast cancer. This was the first free flap done at Muhimbili Hospital.
