SEAMO was pleased to previously announce the winners of the Global Health Development
Fund competition. Now, we would like to share more about the projects from each of our winners:
Dr. Jorge Martinez-Cajas (Medicine): An Assessment of Primary Care Provider’s Readiness, Educational Needs and Preferences for PrEP Adoption in Colombia
“We are thrilled that SEAMO funded the project ‘An Assessment of Primary Care Provider’s Readiness, Educational Needs and Preferences for PrEP Adoption in Colombia’ through its Global Health Project Development Fund program. This award would allow our international collaboration to address educational needs in primary care and accelerate the roll out of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis in Colombia. This will contribute to eliminate HIV/AIDS by 2030 in Latin America.”
Dr. Amanda Collier (Emergency Medicine): Introducing In-Situ Simulation in an Eastern Ethiopian Emergency Department
“The Global Health Fund will be instrumental in supporting the collaboration between Queen’s University and Haramaya University’s emergency medicine departments. In-situ simulation will not only develop hands-on teaching opportunities for both educators and learners at both sites, but by involving entire multi-disciplinary teams who provide care, it will foster additional collaborative research or QI opportunities as teams work together to identify areas for improvement. We hope that by introducing interprofessional in-situ simulation early to a newly established department, it will become a regular part of their continuing professional development as they move forward.”
Dr. Gregory Klar (Anesthesiology): A Partnership in Comprehensive Anesthesiology Training at Haramaya University
"The Department of Anesthesiology is pleased and grateful for the support from SEAMO to enable global health partnerships to build sustainable and long-lasting educational endeavors in areas of need. We are looking forward to updating you with developments of this project."
Dr. Sulaiman Nanji (Surgery): Collaborative Development of a Competency-Based Surgical Oncology Fellowship Program in West Africa
“Receiving this funding is a tremendous honour and I am very grateful that SEAMO is prioritizing the funding of global health projects. Developing a competency-based postgraduate fellowship program in surgical oncology for the West African region will be transformative for this part of the continent to meet the rapidly growing demands of surgical cancer care. Following completion of the curriculum development and program design, I hope to engage my Canadian colleagues in surgical oncology to assist with the exciting, yet demanding phase of program implementation and expansion across the region. This is a three-year project that will involve many educators, scholars, and surgeons and promises to offer many rewarding reciprocal learning opportunities. I am very grateful to have the support of SEAMO and my colleagues and I look forward to this important collaborative work.”
Dr. Prameet Sheth (Pathology): Developing an Antibiotic Stewardship Program at the National Cancer Institute, Sri Lanka
“With the ever-growing treatment of multidrug resistant bacteria, the appropriate use of antibiotics is essential. Sri Lanka is currently experiencing an epidemic of multidrug-resistant bacteria fueled by high workload, limited training on antimicrobial stewardship (ASP) guidelines and the inability to readily access local antibiotic resistance profiles. Our objective is to implement a multi-pronged intervention to optimize the ASP at the NCISL and measure its outcomes on antibiotic prescribing habits and resistance rates over time.”
Dr. Graeme Smith (OBGYN) and Dr. Karen Yeates (Medicine, Nephrology): Improving Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control in Rwanda Through Innovative Partnerships
Dr. Smith: “I have previously collaborated on maternal health research using mobile health tools in Tanzania to improve management of obstetrical emergencies including pre-eclampsia. I am so pleased to be able to continue my collaboration with Dr. Yeates and her team in this current research collaboration with partners in Rwanda to use mobile technology for cervical cancer prevention.”
Dr. Yeates: “We are so grateful and pleased to have received this research grant to bring our cervical cancer prevention program to the Rwandan health system. Cervical cancer is one of the lead cancer killers among women in Africa. The smartphone-enhanced visual inspection program known as SEVIA is a program that we have implemented and evaluated within the national cervical cancer prevention program in Tanzania from 2016-2019. The program is currently going to full scale across Tanzania through support form the Tanzanian Ministry of Health, international cervical cancer prevention funding partners and research funding from Grand Challenges Africa and Grand Challenges Canada. The program uses a smartphone application to assist frontline nurses in reproductive health and HIV clinics to improve cervical cancer screening through visual inspection of the cervix after applying acetic acid (vinegar). The nurses are then trained to provide same day treatment using a thermal coagulation device to freeze any pre-cancerous lesions of the cervix that are visualized, to prevent future invasive cancer. This method is the most cost-effective and evidence-based method available in low-resource settings such as Tanzania and Rwanda because access to Pap smear does not exist due to laboratory and financial resources. The SEAMO Global Health grant funding will allow us to bring this evidence-based program and evaluate its implementation within a pilot project in collaboration with the Rwandan Ministry of Health who are eager to develop quality assurance and health provider training programs within their community health system to strengthen cervical cancer prevention services.”