At St. Walburg’s Hospital in rural southern Tanzania, thousands of patients are treated every month who would otherwise have no access to healthcare. The Artemed Stiftung supports the hospital in fulfilling this important task. Every month, we receive a detailed report from the hospital management about the activities and development of our cooperation. Here is the information for the month of September.

Patient numbers:

M.A.T.E.on-site operations:

In September, gynaecologist Dr. Solveig Groß was on site, set up the laparascope and instructed Dr. Kasoga on how to operate the device. Dr. Lisa-Kathrin Lauterbach - also a gynaecologist - was also at the hospital. Among other things, she helped Ms. Groß with the implementation of the ultrasound project and then took over some of the training for the midwives and nurses. To this end, our gynecology team prepared a curriculum on ultrasound screening for pregnant women in advance for the hospital management. Dr. Titania Eberle played a key role in this alongside Ms. Groß.

Another of Ms. Groß's tasks was to ensure that the materials requested by our hygiene team were purchased. The team will be at St. Walburg’s Hospital at the beginning of November and can now start work straight away as everything is already in place.

During their stay, Mr. Kasoga and Ms. Groß also discussed how cervical cancer prevention and treatment could be improved in the region. A detailed project plan was drawn up during a subsequent joint visit to the WHO Summit 2022 in Berlin.

From our specialist groups:

The Hygiene Team has prepared for its mission in Tanzania in November 2022 and will now try to implement the tasks it has set itself on site.

At the last meeting of the gynaecology team, Ms. Groß presented the success of the midwife training courses on ultrasound screening. In addition, the plan for cervical cancer screening and treatment was discussed and funding opportunities were discussed.

Infrastructure and acquisitions:

Since August, the hospital has employed a pharmacist who takes great care of the logistics and storage of important medicines and equipment. This has ensured that 95% of all important medicines are always available.

The new head of midwifery has already significantly improved care in obstetrics, but has also identified areas where significant changes still need to be made.

Community Health Project:

In September, 1300 infants were vaccinated as part of the project at St. Walburg’s Hospital . Six different villages in the region were visited by Ms. Geni Mabelya and her team, and 496 screening tests were carried out on young children. Malnutrition was detected in 84 children. Eighty of them were severely malnourished and required immediate hospital treatment. In addition, 25 children were diagnosed with severe iron anemia with HB levels below 7.5 g/dl.

The training program on hygiene, healthy nutrition and women's rights was also continued during the visits to the villages. A new focus this time was on informing the women about the possibility of being screened for uterine cancer. Ms. Groß, who explained that this topic was particularly important during her mission, provided significant input here.

Other:

Dr. Kasoga has been preparing for his three-week trip to Germany, during which he will be attending the WHO Summit 2022 in Berlin, visiting four clinics and also paying a visit to Artemed Stiftung in Tutzing.