PICA’s Medical Projects in Guinea and Sierra Leone
Performing over 100 critical surgeries and over 120 medical examinations, and providing a series of training courses for local doctors and medical students
Challenges
African countries and communities are the most vulnerable to health challenges and crises. Five children under age five die every minute in the Africa, mainly due to weak medical infrastructure and capacities. This requires the strengthening of the medical sector and medical professionals in order to ensure the well-being of their citizens and minimize human loss.
Both host countries are suffering from the shortage of surgeons and doctors in certain medical specialties. Many critical cases in villages and vulnerable areas are seeking medical help. Moreover, the local doctor and medical workers needed advanced training and capacity-building programmes due to a lack of senior experts in many medical areas.
Towards a Solution
Following the exploratory mission and the need assessment research with health sectors in Guinea and Sierra Leone, the Palestinian International Cooperation Agency (PICA) concluded that there was a need for certain medical specialties to perform medical surgeries and examinations, and provide training for local doctors though the transfer of specific knowledge to ensure sustainability.
PICA considers the contribution toward developing the health sector in Africa countries as a geographic priority. The programme aims to contribute in SDG 3 (Good health and well-being)). Both programmes in each Guinea Conakry and Sierra Leone aim to improve health sector capabilities in paediatrics and ophthalmologic surgeries through:
- Capacity-building programmes: Medical knowledge is transferred to local doctors and surgeons by the collaboration with five local hospitals in both countries to strengthen capacity in the needed fields. The aim is to create a sustainable source of knowledge and expertise for both target countries.
- Medical weeks: To contribute to the medical needs in targeted countries, Palestinian expert doctors and surgeons perform surgeries and conduct medical examinations for local citizens from villages and vulnerable areas through medical weeks, over the programme timeline.
- The building of open communication mechanism between:
- the medical system in the targeted countries and the Palestinian system to provide updated research knowledge and pool of resources as a basis for long-term cooperation;
- experts and doctors to ensure a smooth, genuine channel of communication to overcome limitations of the traditional channels.
PICA, with expert doctors and partners from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Ministries of Health in both Guinea and Sierra Leone studied the health sector's current capacity from bottom up. Targeting the vulnerable areas and the shortage in medical specialization and expertise could improve the quality of medical capability to serve a large number of people. The experts found that there was need for several medical specialties including ophthalmology and paediatrics. In addition, there is shortage of senior experts and supervision in main cities hospitals.
The methodology used is horizontal cooperation with host countries and local communities. Stakeholders’ efforts were effective and harmonized. The host countries were genuine and welcoming, and never hesitated to provide technical and logistics needs when possible. Experts and doctors are committed and devoted to creating an impact on the ground.
The missions led to successful medical weeks, in Guinea Conakry surgeons performed 30+ critical surgeries, five paediatrics surgeries, and over 50 medical examination. Moreover, a series of medical sessions were provided to over 70 local doctors, medical students and medical support staff in both Donka Hospital and Ignace Deen. In addition, other local hospitals providing medical consultations were visited and their medical needs were assessed for the next phases of the project. In Sierra Leone surgeons performed over 60 ophthalmological surgeries, 12 paediatrics Surgeries, and over 70 medical examinations.
It is always essential to create sustainable impact from a development project. Combining medical weeks with capacity-building programmes will ensure the effective transfer of knowledge and the project’s sustainability. The network of the experts dynamically communicated with local doctors and medical students after the mission; the project prioritizes extending the pool of experts. This will open up the potential for sharing knowledge.
In order to reach the desired network-sharing dynamic, PICA started with signing medical and technical cooperation agreements with the Foundation for Maternal and Child Social Promotion (PROSMI) in Guinea, a foundation that focuses on family and women health, the environment, women’s empowerment, and schooling. Cooperation with civil society organizations enables PICA to learn about the needs, challenges and priorities directly from communities.
Moreover, PICA built a technical network with local hospitals and communities, starting from the Lebanese community and hospital in Guinea.
To facilitate the systematic, cross-country transfer of good practices and knowledge, PICA believes that the optimal benefit will not come from a single cooperation programme or an overnight intervention, because we live in a changing world with new challenges every day. PICA decided to divide the programme into phases based on a priority assessment. The establishment of a clear technical process, experts’ readiness, and an active network will assure a smooth replication of the programme throughout its timeline.
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