Improving surgical skills in Africa

I spent a delightful day recently in discussions with three individuals who are passionate about improving healthcare in Africa. The irony though, is that none of these individuals are African.

First person was my boss. Ok, so I have recently received my annual bonus but that only makes me ambivalent about praising him. The fact is, he has spent most of his professional life pursuing interests aimed at improving healthcare in Africa. These include sponsoring several training programs, funding training centres and institutes, channelling J&J corporate contributions to areas of need in Africa and supporting the surgical colleges of East and West Africa.

Second individual we were meeting is Professor Chris Lavy, an orthopaedic surgeon at University of Oxford. I have not met many people who have the energy and passion for doing things in Africa with an African perspective and he is certainly one. He set up an Orthopaedic hospital in Malawi many years back and is focused on helping children walk. He was also one of the founders of the COSECSA - College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa and has been a key supporter of their activities. We spoke about how to increase the number of surgeons produced in and practicing within the region. It is interesting to learn how much commitment there is among the African surgeons in the region to expanding access to surgical care in the region. Prof Lavy mentioned that he has passed on management of his hospital to another generation of managers to enable it grow and thrive in his absence... That is amazing leadership!

And finally, the three of us were gathered to attend a meeting with Baroness Lynda Chalker. I first heard Baroness Chalker's name during a visit she made to Nigeria while she was in government and my overwhelming memory of her (likely formed by media coverage) was of an extraordinarily powerful and tough lady! I have subsequently heard her speak at a Botswana investment conference and I was really impressed by her knowledge of and interest in Africa. None of these compare to the admiration I developed from meeting her and hearing from close quarters about her lifetime of service, and her devotion to the African continent. She had a lot of ideas on how COSECSA can achieve its goals and it was a good meeting. And during dinner, I found that she has a good sense of humour as well!

I came away from the meetings with all three people with a sense that Africa has many friends but that if the same passion that is present in those friends can infect a greater fraction of African leaders, there will be far more change than any amount of aid can produce.