AFRICA – Nine African Countries Plan with EMERGENCY to Build a Medical Network for Africa

Excellence in Africa, Part II

On April 17th, health ministers and delegations from Chad, Egypt, Eritrea,  Central African Republic, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Uganda met for the second time on the island of San Servolo in Venice. This year, they met again thanks to an invitation by EMERGENCY with the aim of defining a common strategy for the development of “A network of medical excellence in Africa”.

The project was elaborated during the second international workshop “Building Medicine in Africa”, organized with the collaboration of the Province of Venice, and the expectation is to move forward with the creation of eight Centers of Excellence interconnected by means of a regional network. The model is the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery, opened by EMERGENCY in Khartoum two years ago. Over 1,800 people have had surgeries there, with the patients coming from 14 different countries.  

From obstetrics to oncology, a common denominator of excellence

The identified priorities range from pediatric medicine and surgery, to obstetrics and gynecology, tropical diseases, and trauma care; but they do not exclude important needs that are often neglected in Africa, such as oncology. The strengths of this project are twofold:  excellence and transnational cooperation.

Excellence guarantees a high clinical standard, the possibility of training qualified health personnel, developing medical research programs and having a positive impact on the advancement of local health systems.

Transnational cooperation is the second key point. In fact, the same African countries together will be the ones to promote the project in an international context.

Rossella Miccio

Translation by Rosalba Perna