Establishing Surgical Care Sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa for Global Child Health: Insights From Pediatric Cardiac Surgical Capacity-Building Programs in Ethiopia and Côte d'Ivoire

Jayoung Park; Jongho Heo; Woong-Han Kim

doi:10.3389/fped.2021.806019

Establishing Surgical Care Sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa for Global Child Health: Insights From Pediatric Cardiac Surgical Capacity-Building Programs in Ethiopia and Côte d'Ivoire

Front Pediatr. 2022 Jan 14:9:806019. doi: 10.3389/fped.2021.806019. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jayoung Park^{1

2}, Jongho Heo^{1

3}, Woong-Han Kim^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Program in Global Surgery and Implementation Science, JW LEE Center for Global Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
² Department of Human Systems Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
³ National Assembly Futures Institute, Seoul, South Korea.
⁴ Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Seoul National University Children's Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

The global surgery research team of the JW LEE Center for Global Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, introduced team-based health workforce training programs for pediatric cardiac surgery in Ethiopia and Côte d'Ivoire. A team-based collaborative capacity-building model was implemented in both countries, and details of the program design and delivery were documented. The research team shared their experiences and identified achievements, lessons, and challenges for cardiac surgical interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Future directions were put forward to advance and strengthen the low-and middle-income countries "Safe Surgery."

Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa; capacity-building; congenital heart disease; global surgery; team-based.