Here are just a few of the many exciting activities keeping our team and partners busy in recent months:
- A new Emergency Room/Intensive Care wing opened, in place of the old administrative wing, thanks to Cap Anamur, a German organization working at ODCH.
- Reconstruction of the neonatal unit began, funded by UNFPA with oversight from Welbodi Partnership. This very exciting and much-needed project will double the size of the unit and provide a separate outpatient consultation room, an isolation room, a place for mothers to stay near their children, and more space overall.
- A team of lab experts from the UK and the Gambia visited ODCH to provided technical advice and training to ODCH lab technicians. This was part of a long-term lab development project between Swansea University in the UK, THET, the British Council, and the Oxted Trust, facilitated by Welbodi Partnership.
- A team of students from King's College London arrived in Freetown in July to work with Welbodi to conduct qualitative research on health seeking behaviour in the communities that surround ODCH. We hope the results will give us more insight as to why children come to the hospital late and help us find ways to tackle those barriers.
- Board members for the Sierra Leone Institute for Child Health (SLICH) had another successful quarterly meeting in July 2011 and approved a number of projects that had been proposed by ODCH staff to improve the quality of care provided at the hospital.
- Postgraduate training for doctors continues to move forward, thanks in large part to input from Nigerian Fellow of the West African College of Paediatrics, Professor Tamra Abiodan, who has been working at ODCH for a year and a half. Starting next month, we will have paediatric consultants volunteering at ODCH for several months at a time to help with clinical teaching. We have our first three volunteers confirmed and are now recruiting for positions for 2012-2013.
- We are also working closely with our partners in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to establish a paediatric nurse training program. At the same time, we are looking at how Welbodi can work with a local radiologist and radiographer to help them set up a training program in radiography. In the coming years, we believe these training efforts will have an impact on the quality of paediatric care not only at ODCH but nationwide.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Introducing the Newest Welbodi Team Members
We are very excited to welcome two new members of our team: Dr. Anne Nesbitt and Suzanne Thomas. Both will be joining us in Freetown shortly as full-time volunteers. It is wonderful when such skilled individuals are willing to give their time and energy to Welbodi and to ODCH.
Dr. Anne Nesbitt is a consultant paediatrician with extensive experience in acute and community paediatrics in the UK and Africa. Over the course of her career, Anne has spent more than 11 years in various African countries, including Sierra Leone. We are thrilled to welcome her back to Freetown, where she will be delivering clinical teaching through our postgraduate training program for doctors.
Suzanne Thomas is a pharmacist with expertise in designing, delivering, and evaluating training initiatives for a wide variety of medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and community health workers. In 2008, she volunteered in Southern Sudan as an advisor and trainer. She will be a tremendous asset to our ongoing training initiatives for staff at Ola During Children’s Hospital.
Welcome Anne and Suzanne!
Would you like to get involved? Contact info(at)welbodipartnership.org to find out how, or see our job posting for volunteer consultant paediatricians.
Dr. Anne Nesbitt is a consultant paediatrician with extensive experience in acute and community paediatrics in the UK and Africa. Over the course of her career, Anne has spent more than 11 years in various African countries, including Sierra Leone. We are thrilled to welcome her back to Freetown, where she will be delivering clinical teaching through our postgraduate training program for doctors.
Suzanne Thomas is a pharmacist with expertise in designing, delivering, and evaluating training initiatives for a wide variety of medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and community health workers. In 2008, she volunteered in Southern Sudan as an advisor and trainer. She will be a tremendous asset to our ongoing training initiatives for staff at Ola During Children’s Hospital.
Welcome Anne and Suzanne!
Would you like to get involved? Contact info(at)welbodipartnership.org to find out how, or see our job posting for volunteer consultant paediatricians.
Help train Salone's next generation of paediatricians
Voluntary Position Available – Consultant Paediatrician
Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone
Assignment Length: 3 months
Number of positions available: 4
Starting – to run consecutively between June 2012-Aug 2013.
Interested candidates should please send a CV and cover letter by 1st September 2011 to Dr Fred Martineau at: fred(at)welbodipartnership.org
As a Consultant Paediatrician with Welbodi Partnership, you would have a direct and significant impact on the quality of care provided to extremely disadvantaged children. You would play a crucial role in the development of Sierra Leone’s first ever postgraduate paediatric training programme, producing the country’s future leaders in child health.
Job Description
The consultant subspecialist paediatrician will champion the development of their subspecialty in Ola During Children’s Hospital (ODCH), Sierra Leone’s only specialist paediatric facility. They will take a leading role in the recently established postgraduate paediatric training programme, providing educational supervision and expert clinical teaching on their special interest to paediatric residents.
In addition to these two principle roles, the consultant will be expected to take on further responsibilities aimed at improving the quality of paediatric health care in Sierra Leone. This will include general paediatric clinical commitments, teaching all cadres of health professionals and students and the development of clinical services as detailed below.
The assignment will require 3 months of clinical work in Sierra Leone. The successful applicant will be encouraged to contribute to the clinical and educational activities of the hospital before and after this period through the use of e-learning and telemedicine packages.
Responsibilities
The Consultant will be required to fulfil the role of subspecialist as stipulated by the West African College of Physicians (WACP) for the training of paediatric residents to take their WACP Membership exams, namely:
1. Develop and run subspecialist paediatric services. This will include the running of specialty clinics, advising on the appropriate equipping of hospital facilities and improving clinical care pathways relevant to their subspecialty.
2. Take a leading role in the postgraduate academic programme, including the educational supervision of registrars and active participation in the postgraduate academic teaching programme.
Individual workplans will be determined on appointment, in discussion with Welbodi Partnership and the hospital management team, to include some or all of the following:
3. Provide general inpatient and outpatient paediatric care. Engage in direct clinical work at a consultant level, running ward rounds and outpatient clinics. Out-of-hours commitments will be limited to telephone advice.
4. Additional academic activities: Delivering teaching to doctors, nurses and students at the hospital and involvement with relevant national academic programmes at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS). Conduct and supervise research and audit as appropriate.
5. Clinical service development. Take joint responsibility with ODCH management and staff for implementing medical project work to improve patient care.
6. E-learning and telemedicine. Welbodi are collaborating with medicineafrica.com to provide distance-based clinical and educational supervision. These will allow successful applicants to extend their contribution to paediatrics in Sierra Leone beyond their time on the ground and enhance the sustainability of any changes introduced.
7. Other projects targeting child mortality and morbidity in Sierra Leone that are in keeping with the principles of Welbodi Partnership.
Qualifications
Essential:
1. Medical degree from a WHO-recognised medical school.
2. Consultant-level or equivalent qualification in Paediatrics – e.g. Certificate of Completion of (Specialist) Training (UK), Fellow of the West African College of Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics board certification. We will gladly consider other suitable qualifications that are equivalent to FWACP.
3. Demonstrable subspecialisation or special interest within paediatrics in one of: cardiology, respiratory, haematology/oncology, endocrine, renal, metabolic or infectious diseases.
Desirable:
4. Professional experience of healthcare in Africa or other low-resource setting.
5. Experience of teaching at postgraduate and undergraduate levels.
6. In-depth, substantive knowledge of healthcare policy in developing countries.
7. Excellent people skills and a demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with people from diverse backgrounds in a dynamic and constantly-shifting environment.
8. Excellent written and oral English communication skills.
9. Flexibility, focus, and the presence of mind to work in sometimes difficult and chaotic circumstances.
10. Commitment to the goals and principles of the Welbodi Partnership.
Remuneration
The Welbodi Partnership is a small organisation with limited financial resources.
The positions are on a voluntary basis with no salary or personal allowance. Welbodi are willing to cover the cost of a return flight to Sierra Leone, medical registration and visa application fee, and will provide accommodation and daily transport to and from the hospital. You will need to cover the cost of all other expenses.
Applications
The Welbodi Partnership is a UK-registered charity established to support the provision of paediatric health care in Sierra Leone and in particular the Sierra Leone Institute of Child Health (SLICH). SLICH is a joint project between the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation, ODCH, and the Welbodi Partnership to create a centre of excellence in paediatric care. It forms part of the Government of Sierra Leone’s Strategic Plan for Reproductive and Child Health.
The 150-bedded hospital is located in the poor and densely-populated eastern part of Freetown, where 96% of families living in slum conditions. It treats more than 40,000 patients each year, spread across two inpatient wards, an outpatient department, emergency room, ICU, SCBU and a therapeutic feeding centre. The hospital is extremely under-resourced, however, and providing adequate care is still a challenge.
To learn more about us, please visit our website at www.welbodipartnership.org or for more specific queries please contact Fred at the email address below.
Interested candidates should please send a CV and cover letter by 1st September 2011 to Dr Fred Martineau at: fred(at)welbodipartnership.org
Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone
Assignment Length: 3 months
Number of positions available: 4
Starting – to run consecutively between June 2012-Aug 2013.
Interested candidates should please send a CV and cover letter by 1st September 2011 to Dr Fred Martineau at: fred(at)welbodipartnership.org
As a Consultant Paediatrician with Welbodi Partnership, you would have a direct and significant impact on the quality of care provided to extremely disadvantaged children. You would play a crucial role in the development of Sierra Leone’s first ever postgraduate paediatric training programme, producing the country’s future leaders in child health.
Job Description
The consultant subspecialist paediatrician will champion the development of their subspecialty in Ola During Children’s Hospital (ODCH), Sierra Leone’s only specialist paediatric facility. They will take a leading role in the recently established postgraduate paediatric training programme, providing educational supervision and expert clinical teaching on their special interest to paediatric residents.
In addition to these two principle roles, the consultant will be expected to take on further responsibilities aimed at improving the quality of paediatric health care in Sierra Leone. This will include general paediatric clinical commitments, teaching all cadres of health professionals and students and the development of clinical services as detailed below.
The assignment will require 3 months of clinical work in Sierra Leone. The successful applicant will be encouraged to contribute to the clinical and educational activities of the hospital before and after this period through the use of e-learning and telemedicine packages.
Responsibilities
The Consultant will be required to fulfil the role of subspecialist as stipulated by the West African College of Physicians (WACP) for the training of paediatric residents to take their WACP Membership exams, namely:
1. Develop and run subspecialist paediatric services. This will include the running of specialty clinics, advising on the appropriate equipping of hospital facilities and improving clinical care pathways relevant to their subspecialty.
2. Take a leading role in the postgraduate academic programme, including the educational supervision of registrars and active participation in the postgraduate academic teaching programme.
Individual workplans will be determined on appointment, in discussion with Welbodi Partnership and the hospital management team, to include some or all of the following:
3. Provide general inpatient and outpatient paediatric care. Engage in direct clinical work at a consultant level, running ward rounds and outpatient clinics. Out-of-hours commitments will be limited to telephone advice.
4. Additional academic activities: Delivering teaching to doctors, nurses and students at the hospital and involvement with relevant national academic programmes at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS). Conduct and supervise research and audit as appropriate.
5. Clinical service development. Take joint responsibility with ODCH management and staff for implementing medical project work to improve patient care.
6. E-learning and telemedicine. Welbodi are collaborating with medicineafrica.com to provide distance-based clinical and educational supervision. These will allow successful applicants to extend their contribution to paediatrics in Sierra Leone beyond their time on the ground and enhance the sustainability of any changes introduced.
7. Other projects targeting child mortality and morbidity in Sierra Leone that are in keeping with the principles of Welbodi Partnership.
Qualifications
Essential:
1. Medical degree from a WHO-recognised medical school.
2. Consultant-level or equivalent qualification in Paediatrics – e.g. Certificate of Completion of (Specialist) Training (UK), Fellow of the West African College of Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics board certification. We will gladly consider other suitable qualifications that are equivalent to FWACP.
3. Demonstrable subspecialisation or special interest within paediatrics in one of: cardiology, respiratory, haematology/oncology, endocrine, renal, metabolic or infectious diseases.
Desirable:
4. Professional experience of healthcare in Africa or other low-resource setting.
5. Experience of teaching at postgraduate and undergraduate levels.
6. In-depth, substantive knowledge of healthcare policy in developing countries.
7. Excellent people skills and a demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with people from diverse backgrounds in a dynamic and constantly-shifting environment.
8. Excellent written and oral English communication skills.
9. Flexibility, focus, and the presence of mind to work in sometimes difficult and chaotic circumstances.
10. Commitment to the goals and principles of the Welbodi Partnership.
Remuneration
The Welbodi Partnership is a small organisation with limited financial resources.
The positions are on a voluntary basis with no salary or personal allowance. Welbodi are willing to cover the cost of a return flight to Sierra Leone, medical registration and visa application fee, and will provide accommodation and daily transport to and from the hospital. You will need to cover the cost of all other expenses.
Applications
The Welbodi Partnership is a UK-registered charity established to support the provision of paediatric health care in Sierra Leone and in particular the Sierra Leone Institute of Child Health (SLICH). SLICH is a joint project between the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation, ODCH, and the Welbodi Partnership to create a centre of excellence in paediatric care. It forms part of the Government of Sierra Leone’s Strategic Plan for Reproductive and Child Health.
The 150-bedded hospital is located in the poor and densely-populated eastern part of Freetown, where 96% of families living in slum conditions. It treats more than 40,000 patients each year, spread across two inpatient wards, an outpatient department, emergency room, ICU, SCBU and a therapeutic feeding centre. The hospital is extremely under-resourced, however, and providing adequate care is still a challenge.
To learn more about us, please visit our website at www.welbodipartnership.org or for more specific queries please contact Fred at the email address below.
Interested candidates should please send a CV and cover letter by 1st September 2011 to Dr Fred Martineau at: fred(at)welbodipartnership.org
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Exciting News: Comic Relief Funds Welbodi
We are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded a large three-year grant from Comic Relief, a UK-based charity that supports global efforts to reduce poverty and social injustice. These much-needed funds will enable us to greatly expand our work at the Ola During Children’s Hospital (ODCH).
The bulk of the funds will go to support the Sierra Leone Institute of Child Health (SLICH), a collaboration between the Welbodi Partnership, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, and ODCH. Through SLICH, the Welbodi Partnership funds ideas submitted by ODCH staff for how to improve service provision at the hospital. Alongside this, we will continue to develop desperately-needed postgraduate training programs for doctors and nurses. A small but important part of the grant will be spent to nurture new relationships with local communities, build on our understanding of community health needs, and empower community members to participate in the process of innovating and implementing new approaches to improve child health. Finally, we will invest in developing robust monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure that we track outcomes and remain accountable to the fundamental goal of reducing needless child deaths.
We are extremely excited about this new phase of our work, and we look forward to working with Comic Relief and with our wonderful partners at ODCH and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to put this new funding to good use.
The bulk of the funds will go to support the Sierra Leone Institute of Child Health (SLICH), a collaboration between the Welbodi Partnership, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, and ODCH. Through SLICH, the Welbodi Partnership funds ideas submitted by ODCH staff for how to improve service provision at the hospital. Alongside this, we will continue to develop desperately-needed postgraduate training programs for doctors and nurses. A small but important part of the grant will be spent to nurture new relationships with local communities, build on our understanding of community health needs, and empower community members to participate in the process of innovating and implementing new approaches to improve child health. Finally, we will invest in developing robust monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure that we track outcomes and remain accountable to the fundamental goal of reducing needless child deaths.
We are extremely excited about this new phase of our work, and we look forward to working with Comic Relief and with our wonderful partners at ODCH and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to put this new funding to good use.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Hat-tip New York Times
Last week, the New York Times highlighted some of the opportunities and challenges involved in the Government of Sierra Leone's efforts to provide free healthcare for children and pregnant women.
The article cites early indications that the initiative is having an impact -- including a "214 percent increase in the number of children under 5 getting care at health facilities... and an 85 percent drop in the malaria fatality rate for children treated in hospitals" -- but also enormous challenges. "The health minister, Zainab Bangura, says her country needs 54 gynecologists but has only 4. Likewise, she says, there are only two pediatricians in a nation of over five million people."
Together with our partners, the Welbodi Partnership is working to address this shortage of pediatricians. Two of the Ola During Children Hospital's medical officers recently passed the primary exams for the West African College of Pediatrics and Director of Clinical Teaching Professor Tamra Abiodun is leading a team of fellows providing hands-on training and professional development for these and other young doctors. Meanwhile, we are working towards accreditation through the West African College so that someday soon, aspiring pediatricians from Sierra Leone can qualify as specialists without leaving the country.
Would you like to help? We are always looking for specialist pediatricians to join us in Freetown to help provide clinical training. Contact Emily(at)Welbodipartnership.org for more information.
The article cites early indications that the initiative is having an impact -- including a "214 percent increase in the number of children under 5 getting care at health facilities... and an 85 percent drop in the malaria fatality rate for children treated in hospitals" -- but also enormous challenges. "The health minister, Zainab Bangura, says her country needs 54 gynecologists but has only 4. Likewise, she says, there are only two pediatricians in a nation of over five million people."
Together with our partners, the Welbodi Partnership is working to address this shortage of pediatricians. Two of the Ola During Children Hospital's medical officers recently passed the primary exams for the West African College of Pediatrics and Director of Clinical Teaching Professor Tamra Abiodun is leading a team of fellows providing hands-on training and professional development for these and other young doctors. Meanwhile, we are working towards accreditation through the West African College so that someday soon, aspiring pediatricians from Sierra Leone can qualify as specialists without leaving the country.
Would you like to help? We are always looking for specialist pediatricians to join us in Freetown to help provide clinical training. Contact Emily(at)Welbodipartnership.org for more information.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Ola During Children's Hospital...
Photos taken with permission from the caregivers.
Happy to say that Okon, Kumba and others are well and discharged home.
Copyright 2011 Sandra Lako
Friday, July 8, 2011
Busy Welbodi
Welbodi is busy. That's my excuse for the lack of blog posts. However, I am happy to report that a lot is happening at the Children's Hospital.
One of our partner organizations transformed the administrative wing into a new ER/ICU wing (thanks CA) which opened about a month ago. Prior to that they built a second story on top of the feeding centre, which now functions as the administrative block.
Welbodi started the reconstruction of the neonatal unit in partnership with UNFPA. This is a very exciting project and will double the size of the neonatal unit! It will also provide space for the mothers to be able to stay near their children. We will have a separate outpatient clinic from the inpatient area. There will be an isolation room. We'll have more space and hopefully soon more equipment as well. It's exciting.
We also had a team of lab experts from the UK and the Gambia at the hospital this week as part of the lab development project that Welbodi facilitates. It was great to see so many hard working people in the lab. The technicians were eager to learn and they were very open to input and advice on how to improve the lab services. Let's hope they keep up the good work.
Yesterday a group of students from King's College arrived in Freetown to work with Welbodi to conduct qualitative research on health seeking behaviour in the community. We hope that the results will give us more insight as to why children come to the hospital late and help us find ways to tackle those barriers.
We've been busy preparing for a Fundraiser quiz night which will take place next Friday. Fun! If you're in Freetown and have not yet given us your name - come! It's Le 50,000 for dinner and a quiz. We'll have fun prizes. It'll be a great night up at IMATT.
Meanwhile we continue to plod along with the postgraduate training program for doctors through the West African College of Physicians, with a lot of input from a Nigerian professor currently based at the hospital. As of September we will bring in visiting paediatric consultants for 3-6 months at a time to help teach the residents at the hospital. Seeing as there will be more Welbodies on the ground, we are buying a new (new to us, second hand in reality) vehicle that seats 7!
We are also helping set up a paediatric nurse training program in collaboration with the Ministry. We believe this will greatly improve paediatric care. The nurses make up the largest workforce in the hospital and it is crucial that they are trained well so that they can provide good nursing care.
Work in the medical records department continues. We are now able to provide the hospital and Ministry with monthly reports as well as quarterly reports. There's still along way to go, but the department has definitely improved over the past year.
Another area that we are involved in is the radiology department. We are working along side a radiologist and radiographer to help them set up a training program in radiography due to a shortage of radiographers in the country. We also hope to be able to source (and find funding for) an x-ray and consumables. Once we have everything in place we can start doing x-rays. This too will have an impact on patient care.
All in all, it's a busy time. At times it seems like we are not getting anywhere, but when you look back over the past year, it is obvious that the hospital has definitely improved. Yes, there is still a lot to do, but we are moving forward. Small small. One step at a time.
If you would like join Welbodi in improving paediatric care you can donate to the cause at: http://www.justgiving.com/welbodipartnership
Lab expert from Wales training one of the Sierra Leonean technicians
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