Comment from the Ambassador
Gabriella Berglund

This project caught my interest because it concerns medical issues being treated in complex environments with new technologies. I was introduced to GHT by a friend who lost a 5-year-old child and decided to dedicate a lot of time to philanthropic activities in Africa. After having created a school, my friend uses the medical relationship network of his family to contribute to this project as well. Although I have not yet visited the Dream Center Mulibwanji, I have received photos to illustrate the workstation installation.

Description

The project’s objective is to improve the health of populations in the rural community of Masuku by enabling multidisciplinary medical teleconsultations. A telemedicine workstation should improve patient care and the local medical staff’s training and skills. This very vulnerable population, located in a region with a high HIV prevalence near the border with Mozambique, only has the Dream Center Mulibwanji for any pathologies that may affect them. The hospital helps approx. 18,000 people per year. GHT is an Italian association which offers constant multidisciplinary medical teleconsultations, free of charge, using a pool of Italian and European volunteer medical specialists (cardiology, neurology, dermatology, endocrinology, angiology, paediatrics, etc.). Teleconsultation uses a webbased platform to send and receive medical files and diagnosis. This web-based platform can also work offline, a fundamental feature for healthcare centres with poor access to the internet. GHT installs telemedicine workstations (computers, examination equipments, ultrasound scanner, etc.) mainly in sub-Saharian Africa.

Impact / Main indicators

• The telemedicine workstation and examination equipment were installed on 1-Dec-2018.
• Next year should produce impact indicators such as the number of telemedicine consultations, evolution of the mortality rate, training sessions for the local medical staff, etc.

Project sponsors

GHT - Global Health Telemedicine
www.ghtelemedicine.org

Local partner

GHT, with the Dream Center Mulibwanji Hospital
(managed by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd)