Improving District Surgical Capacity to Strengthen Health Systems in West Africa

Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia

The project aimed to increase the capacity of district-level health facilities in emergency, trauma, surgical, anaesthesia, obstetric care and disaster management in Ghana, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. The grant proceeds will contribute to update the IMEESC e-learning toolkit, develop a standardized emergency trauma care system, improve a standardized quality assurance tool, research and evidence based practice, and capacity-building through twinning programs to establish Centers of Excellence. The project was successfully completed. The key achievements of the projects are: (1) availability of an updated WHO situational Analysis Tool for a comprehensive needs assessment for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care (EESC) in LMICs. (2) availability of a standard WHO Emergency and Trauma Care(ETC) training course modules which includes injuries in women locally adapted and the elderly. (3) ETC training course with locally adapted low cost training tools for LMICs. (4) ECT training course with locally adapted low cost training tools for LMICs. (5) Updated WHO Integrated Management for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care (IMEESC) toolkit and inclusion of WHO ETC training course modules for wider dissemination – guidance for policies, research, teaching, equipment and best practices to improve quality and safety. (6) Access to trained health providers for the management of road accidents, violence, disaster situation, and childbirth injuries and trauma in children and the elderly.