Newsroom
Touch Foundation President Co-Authors Article in Health International Journal
The article, "A Practical Approach to Health System Strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa," describes findings from a joint McKinsey & Company and Touch Foundation study of the health systems challenges in the Lake Zone region of Tanzania.
Building a University
From ten medical students in 2003, the Weill Bugando University College of Health Sciences – known as WBUCHS – has now grown to over eight hundred students in eight different programs.
The ambition of the university – shared and supported by the Touch Foundation, the Tanzanian Government and the donor community – is to become a model university and teaching hospital for Tanzania and the wider Lake Zone region of fifteen million people. Since November 2007, this aspect of our work has benefitted from the generous support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID – from the American people). We work in several ways to help Weill Bugando realize this ambition:
Increasing the number of students and courses
Since its humble beginnings in 2003, Weill Bugando has added training programs for Assistant Medical Officers (AMOs), nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacy technicians, radiographers, nurse-anesthetists, and five post-graduate medical specialties.
The Touch Foundation has undertaken different but coordinated activities to overcome specific challenges and make this growth possible:
- Construction: We built a 480-bed student dormitory and renovated dilapidated housing to accommodate another 348 students.
- Student scholarships: We provide all Weill Bugando students with full scholarships including tuition, room and board, requiring only a nominal copayment.
- University funding: We fund the entire operations of the university after the Tanzanian Government’s contribution, including procurement of supplies, budget development, construction oversight and academic faculty.
- Faculty: Our support of faculty and staff includes over fifty new academic faculty, 150 university staff and fifty physicians at the Bugando Medical Centre who teach university and diploma level students.
- Teaching space: We renovated space in the hospital to create a medical seminar room to promote clinical teaching, and have developed a complete master plan for reengineering the entire campus as funding becomes available.
Filling the teaching gap
In addition to a severe shortage of health workers, Tanzania has too few faculty and teachers to train the next generation. To close this gap, we have been partnering with Weill Cornell Medical College since 2004 to provide both permanent faculty and visiting residents to teach at Weill Bugando.
Participants in this twinning program – supported and coordinated by the Touch Foundation – contribute much-needed staff capacity, filling gaps in specialist teaching expertise both in the classroom and in the clinical teaching setting of the hospital. At the same time, they are building long-term capacity at Bugando.
Faculty-in-residence from Weill Cornell spend two to three years at Bugando. Visiting faculty teach students and model U.S.-teaching methods for the Bugando faculty, developing collegial relationships as they support their Tanzanian counterparts. In 2008, the visiting faculty included specialists in internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics/gynecology.
Visiting residents similarly work alongside Bugando students, interns, and registrars, sharing ideas and technical skills with their Tanzanian colleagues.
The exchange component of this twinning program has also grown over time as more Weill Bugando students travel to Weill Cornell to observe and experience medical education in the U.S. context.
A model teaching hospital
The lack of resources available in teaching hospitals can hamper the quality of medical education. We work with the Bugando Medical Centre (BMC) to improve the quality of patient care – and thus of clinical training. At the same time, we work with the leadership at both the hospital and university to perfect the partnership between the two institutions.
- Strategic planning: After funding a series of assessments of the renovation and improvement needs of the hospital, we are working with the hospital leadership to develop a comprehensive strategic plan to prioritize infrastructure, equipment, and operational systems needs.
- Meeting urgent needs: By procuring a high-capacity generator and installing a system of water pumps, we have ensured that BMC now has reliable power and water throughout the facility.
Improving productivity
When doctors are in short supply, it is even more crucial to make the most efficient use of trained clinical staff, such as nurses. We work with the hospital leadership to develop performance management programs and devise practical interventions to ensure doctors and nurses spend more of their time treating and caring for patients.
Looking ahead: a regional university and referral hospital
Weill Bugando is the largest health facility in the Lake Zone region. As these institutions scale up resources, increase productivity, and improve their response to major killers such as AIDS, malaria, and maternal/child conditions, they will increasingly become flagship institutions for Tanzania’s health system.
We will continue to work with the university as it takes on a regional leadership role, developing a network of collaborating training institutions.
We will similarly support the hospital as it becomes an inspirational example of the positive health outcomes throughout Tanzania and sub-Saharan Africa.