Over the past 20 years, the UVA Center for Telehealth has become increasingly involved in international health projects.
We draw from a broad experience in providing access to healthcare in rural communities to foster global relationships to treat illness and advance healthcare education in a growing number of places around the world.
The following represent just a few of our international programs.
Tanzanian Women's Global Health Initiative
Moshi, Tanzania
Since 2012, we have provided technical support to connect UVA gyne-oncologist Peyton Taylor, MD, to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC). By providing a telemedicine connection between UVA, Duke and KCMC, this program enhances faculty development at KCMC as well as OB-GYN resident education.
UVA and Duke faculty also collaborate with O. Oneko, MD, of KCMC to further develop a remote rural network for cervical and breast cancer screening. This provides a platform for clinical translational research in HIV/HPV co-infections.
National University of Rwanda
UVA Surgical Case Conferences: Kigali & Butare, Rwanda; Jimma, Ethiopia
In 2011, we began a program with the National University of Rwanda & Jimma University Hospital to describe and demonstrate the feasibility and utility of case teleconferences as an innovative educational adjunct for building collaboration and surgical capacity. UVA engages in quarterly general surgery case conferences and monthly anesthesiology case conferences. In 2015, we started connecting with Jimma University Hospital in Ethiopia and now hold weekly anesthesiology case conferences.
To date, UVA has engaged in over 60 Surgical and Anesthesiology Case Conferences, enriching medical education for surgical residents at both UVA and international partner hospitals and supporting the development of the Rwandan and Ethiopian national telehealth infrastructure.
UVA Guatemala Initiative
In our continuing effort to foster global relationships, the UVA Guatemala Initiative has extended our resources to provide access to healthcare and education in the heart of Guatemala. View Guatemala transcript.
The UVA - Guatemala Initiative
Quetzaltenango & Solola, Guatemala
In Guatemala, we have been working with the UVA Guatemala Initiative (UVA-GI) to plan and implement a variety of collaborative video and data-linkage opportunities to support local healthcare services. Our network analysts partnered with UVA Emergency Medicine Professor David Burt, MD, to develop a Portal Assessment Tool to evaluate broadband availability in rural or impoverished regions that might benefit from telemedicine resources.
In early 2014, the UVA Center for Telehealth began supporting virtual American Sign Language lessons for students at the Xela School for the Deaf. UVA's Ted Siedlecki, MD, and Penny Carlisle host these lessons twice weekly.
Mbarara University of Science & Technology (MUST) - UVA
Mbarara, Uganda
In June 2013, the UVA Center for Telehealth began working with colleagues at Mbarara University Science and Technology (MUST) to improve telehealth capacity, creating a global classroom for collaborative research and training. This collaboration takes many forms, including infectious disease resident case conferences and educational courses lead by UVA's Christopher Moore, MD, and MUST's Sampson Okello, MD; guest lectures and undergraduate research exchanges.
PROSAMI
Democratic Republic of Congo
PROSAMI is a non-profit organization that focuses on the promotion of maternal and infant health in the rural areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). UVA nurse practitioner, David Strider, is President of PROSAMI and works with the UVA Center for Telehealth to design and implement telecommunication systems that allow midwives in the DRC to connect with nurses in Virginia.
Over the last nine years, PROSAMI has been providing telemidwifery by providing education of nurses in the DRC to become advanced nurse-midwives through sequential didactic and practical clinical training. In addition, ongoing teleconferences are held between the midwifery students and professors in Durban, South Africa, Ng’iya, Kenya, New Delhi, India, Staunton, VA, and Charlottesville, VA.
Swinfen Charitable Trust
The Swinfen Charitable Trust aims to help patients with disabilities who are resource-limited or sick in the developing world. The Trust establishes telemedicine links between medical and surgical specialists around the world who give free consultations via videoconferencing. As of January 2014, UVA physicians have consulted on over 200 international cases.
Interested in Getting Involved?
Learn how to get trained in telehealth with this international training program.