News and Updates – Page 2 – Kupona Foundation

December 1, 2019

This Holiday Season, Meet Angela

The tragedy of obstetric fistula is unimaginable. As women have told us, “There’s nothing worse than sleeping on a soiled bed at night.” Fistula persists in Tanzania because of a lack of timely access to high quality maternal healthcare. Too often, a woman can’t access health workers with the skills and tools they need to manage her obstructed labor. Sometimes, the woman reaches the hospital, but the team isn’t equipped to quickly mobilize to provide a safe C-section in order to save her baby, and prevent the traumatic birth injury of obstetric fistula.

In the last decade, CCBRT has trained more than 6,000 healthcare workers in safe maternal and newborn care, and provided surgery and comprehensive treatment to over 7,000 women with obstetric fistula. The comprehensive program focuses on treating the entire woman rather than simply repairing the physical condition alone – improving patients’ health outcomes and economic well-being after surgery.

“They operated on me four times, but I did not recover. That’s when I gave up, I thought I would never recover from fistula. I lost hope because I couldn’t attend mass at church, or participate in any activity with my fellow women. When I reached CCBRT, I was no longer the only one suffering from fistula. I met many other women like me. CCBRT has transformed my life. Right now, I am learning how to be a seamstress at Mabinti,” Angela told us.

Help make comprehensive fistula treatment available to more women like Angela by making a tax-deductible donation today.

October 17, 2019

Celebrating 10 years of Kupona Foundation and over 100,000 surgeries at CCBRT

On Thursday, October 10th, we celebrated Kupona’s 10th Anniversary at The Penn Club in New York City and raised over $37,000 to support our partner CCBRT in Tanzania.

Kupona Staff, Board, and Advisory Board Members (photo credit: Todd Plitt)

You — our Kupona community — should feel tremendous pride in what you’ve helped us achieve over the past ten years, especially if you consider this:

18 million people die annually due to surgically treatable conditions, and millions more suffer with preventable disabilities.
In Tanzania, 830 women do not survive due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth EVERY DAY. An estimated 80% of these deaths are preventable.

Help us reach our goal of raising another $10,000 with a life-saving gift today

Why is it that being born with a correctable impairment like pediatric cataracts, or safely giving birth – things that happen all over the world – are so challenging and so dangerous in Tanzania? The following three challenges are among the greatest drivers:

There is a shortage of trained surgeons and skilled surgical and medical teams able to provide the services needed. For its population of over 55 million people, the World Health Organization recommends 10,700 specialist surgeons – and Tanzania has only 177.
There is a lack of awareness. Many people don’t know that their child’s impairment can be treated, or don’t realize that a laboring mother may not be able to safely deliver her baby at home. Myths and misconceptions about the causes of disability create social stigma.
It is very difficult to access treatment. For many families, the time and cost of traveling to a health facility to seek treatment for themselves or their child will be at the expense of putting food on the table or educating their children.

In the past ten years, Kupona has helped CCBRT conduct over 100,000 surgeries in Tanzania, and we’ve helped launch a maternal and newborn healthcare program that has increased a mother’s chance of survival by over 40% in the Dar es Salaam region. As Dr. Brenda shared, “Fistula is 100% preventable, and that’s where the CCBRT Maternal Health team comes in. We give women the right to a clean and safe birth and a healthy baby.”

The numbers are impressive, but when you consider that they represent lives, families, children, and healthcare professionals, they carry a whole new weight. CCBRT CEO Brenda Msangi brought the numbers to life: “We’ve done over 100,000 surgeries…this is not just a number, this is seeing a little boy smiling for the first time after a cleft repair, or seeing a woman with fistula who has been leaking urine for 8 years, being dry after surgery, and going back to her community and being accepted by her community. This is a little toddler taking steps for the first time using her prosthetic. This is the real impact that we are privileged to see at CCBRT.”

CCBRT CEO Brenda Msangi and Maternal Health Leader Dr. Brenda D’mello (photo credit: Todd Plitt)

Thursday’s celebration included a Tanzanian dance performance by Curious on Tanzania, and gave guests the opportunity to cast their vote to direct a $9,000 grant from the Johnson & Johnson Foundation to one of CCBRT’s high-impact programs. The winning program? Maternal Health & Obstetric Fistula. Thanks to Johnson & Johnson and all of our generous event sponsors for their support. You can check out more photos from the event here.

We are so grateful for this community, and to everyone who has donated, volunteered or partnered with us over the last decade. A special thank you to our 10th Anniversary Host Committee for their generosity and for helping mobilize such an incredible group of people.

We invite you to stay involved with this work. Why? Because it’s your support that is changing the lives of thousands of people in Tanzania every year. Here’s how you can help:

Curious on Tanzania performance (photo credit: Todd Plitt)

Silent Auction of photographs from Board VP Betsy Zink’s visit to Tanzania (photo credit: Todd Plitt)

Donate today! We have a goal of raising another $10,000 to celebrate 10 years of changing lives.
- A gift of $300 will provide sight-restoring surgery for a child born with congenital cataract, enabling him to see the world around him and get an education.
- A gift of $615 will equip 15 health workers with advanced training at the CCBRT Academy.
- A donation of $5,000 will provide critical start-up operational funding for five safe C-sections for mothers and babies in our new Maternity & Newborn Hospital.
Visit CCBRT: Reach out to express your interest in joining us for a “Seeing is Believing” trip in 2020 or 2021.
Learn more: Read about your impact in our 2018 Annual Report.
Stay in touch: Follow us on social media or sign up for our mailing list We’re on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter
Spread the word: Share this post or tell five friends about the event, and invite them to help us reach our goal with a life-changing gift. As Betsy shared in her opening remarks, we can each “Do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are.”

Thank you all for your generosity and support over the last ten years.

September 13, 2019

Upstate New York Community Raises $28,000

On Tuesday, September 10^th, Kupona Foundation hosted our fourth Upstate New York event at The Docksider Restaurant in Lake George, NY.

Thanks to the generous support of our Saratoga Springs community, we raised over $28,000 to provide life changing healthcare services to children living with disabilities, women and newborns, and life-saving training to empower frontline healthcare workers.

Guests enjoyed picturesque views of Glen Lake with a delicious buffet and cocktails served by our friends at The Docksider. Handmade items from The Mabinti Centre were available for purchase, and guests bid in a silent auction on a stunning hand thrown vase from local artist Linda Demers of Oakley Way Pottery, with all proceeds going to support the women and children we serve in Tanzania.

We are so grateful for this community of supporters and friends. Thank you to everyone who attended on Tuesday, donated in honor of the event, and to each and every one of you who has supported our Upstate New York events in the past. A very special thank you goes to Tom & Laurie Longe and to Steve & Debby Seaboyer for their generosity and for helping mobilize such an incredible community of people in Upstate New York.

On Tuesday evening, Steve Seaboyer welcomed guests and thanked them for their many years of support before introducing Kupona’s Executive Director, Abbey Kocan. Abbey shared an update on the impact that the Upstate New York community has had, thanks to their generosity. These accomplishments include helping to provide:

Comprehensive, holistic fistula surgery and treatment for 3,358 women living with obstetric fistula, (a traumatic birth injury that results from prolonged, obstructed labor).
Sight restoring surgeries, such as cataract surgeries, for 28,500 children and adults, who are now able to go to school, be active in their communities, and support their families.
Critical training and capacity building for over 5,000 community health workers.

Abbey also expressed her excitement about the planned opening of the new CCBRT Maternity and Newborn Hospital in 2020, which will provide 12,000 safe deliveries for mothers in need every year, and the CCBRT Academy, which officially opened this week. The CCBRT Academy will play an important role in strengthening human resources for health in Tanzania and more broadly in the East African region. The continued generosity of Kupona’s supporters will help us to equip clinical and managerial teams with the live-saving skills they need to provide expert, quality care to those most in need. By training healthcare workers to train others, we ensure that quality healthcare will be available for years to come.

We invite you to stay involved with this work. Why? Because it’s your support that is breaking the cycle of poverty for thousands of people in Tanzania every year. Here’s how you can help:

We have a goal of raising another $5,000 to enable us to invest in what it will take to ensure that the opening of our new Maternity & Newborn Hospital in 2020 is a success, and to reach more children with the life-changing care they need today.

Donate today! A gift of $160 will support a child living with a disability like clubfoot, improving his mobility and give him the chance to learn and play.
Join us with a donation of $5,000 to help make the necessary investments in critical start-up costs for the new maternity hospital.
Learn more! Read about your impact in our 2018 Annual Report.
Follow us on social media. We’re on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter

We’re proud to call Saratoga Springs home and we are so grateful for the generosity and support of this community. Thank you.

January 19, 2019

Growing a Social Enterprise: Meet Rehema

Originally posted on CCBRT’s blog.

The CCBRT Private Clinic

Learn how Rehema leads the expansion of CCBRT’s Private Clinic

This month we are focusing on sustainability, and there’s no better example of sustainability than CCBRT’s mission to become a healthcare social enterprise. Rehema, General Manager of the Private Clinic, joined CCBRT in 2010 from the private sector. She took on the task of expanding our previous Private Clinic into a sustainable funding source for CCBRT that would meet the healthcare needs of Tanzania’s growing middle class and contribute to the healthcare needs of the most vulnerable. CCBRT’s social enterprise model ensures that all Tanzanians – regardless of ability to pay – are able to access essential healthcare. Revenues from the Private Clinic are re-invested in CCBRT’s main hospital, which treats vulnerable Tanzanians from across the country for free or highly subsidized rates.

While this social enterprise model is unique in Sub-Saharan Africa, it has proven successful in similar low-resource contexts, such as India. Using two decades of experience in Tanzania, CCBRT analyzed lessons learned from Aravind Eye Care System and Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Hospital, which operate similar models, to create an innovative financing model that will ensure sustainable growth. Since the new Private Clinic has opened its doors, Rehema and the CCBRT team have embedded lean management thinking and culture into its operations – another innovation for the African health sector – improving patient flow and efficiency, minimizing waste and ensuring smooth service delivery.

Patients in the Private Clinic waiting area

A healthcare social enterprise is new to Dar es Salaam. Initially, patients feared that the free or highly subsidized rates would be eliminated. Rehema worked with CCBRT’s Marketing and Customer Care Department to educate the community on CCBRT’s social enterprise model, spreading the word about expanded services and opening hours. There is no difference in care between CCBRT’s main hospital and the Private Clinic. Additionally, the prices for CCBRT’s private services did not increase when the new clinic was built.

Rehema is focused on quality and continued growth for the Private Clinic in 2019. CCBRT has a goal of expanding services by ten percent to include dental, dialysis and primary care. She also hopes to increase the number of patients seen per day to 80. To meet this goal, Rehema and her team are continuing to build capacity of the new facility through staff trainings and recruitment.

December 5, 2018

Women are the Heartbeat of Africa

A guest post by Betsy Zink, Kupona Board of Directors.

Betsy (right) learns screen printing at The Mabinti Centre

“They say you can’t understand someone’s life until you have walked a mile in their shoes.”

This past October, I was privileged to do just that. As a new member of Kupona Foundation’s Board of Directors, I made my first trip to visit Kupona’s partner in Tanzania, CCBRT. In addition to visiting the CCBRT campus in Dar es Salaam, I visited CCBRT’s clinic in Moshi to learn more about the community based rehabilitation work happening in that region.

On my first day at CCBRT’s Disability Hospital in Dar, I was struck by the devotion of the medical staff and hospital administration. It was inspiring to hear how they articulated their sense of purpose as healthcare providers. It was also clear to me that Kupona and CCBRT support a critical piece of the Tanzanian healthcare system.

On each of the wards, patients receiving treatment for obstetric fistula, orthopedic conditions, and congenital and visual impairments conveyed the same thing: they had no other means of receiving high quality disability or rehabilitative healthcare, and they rely on the services we provide. A similar sentiment was expressed when I visited CCBRT’s maternal healthcare capacity building sites and met doctors and nurses who are being trained and mentored to provide high quality, life saving maternal healthcare. They are so grateful for the support they are receiving from CCBRT (and Kupona) and know that it is improving the entire Tanzanian healthcare system when they can better serve the people who are most in need.

And it was the people most in need that I was now seeking.
I’d seen patients and caregivers within the clean, organized CCBRT clinics but wondered, “where are our patients coming from”? Answering that question directed the rest of my personal travel time in Tanzania as I tried to walk in the footsteps – if just for a short while – of those we serve. I plunked myself in a simple lodge outside of Arusha and vowed to “live locally” for the week.

Each day I set off on foot, with minimal shillings and a small backpack, and headed away from the nearest road to a local village. I spoke with shop owners, and women working in the fields. I visited schools, made friends, was invited into homes, tasted local dishes, learned about crops and asked folks about medical care, birth experiences, their families and challenges in their lives. My experiences and photos revealed something I knew all along: women are the heartbeat of Africa. They are the workers in the home, fields and small businesses. Every time I stopped to take in my surroundings, I saw women hauling water, carrying firewood, harvesting, planting, selling, milking, cooking, washing and child rearing.

When the need to seek medical care means a woman must travel from her home, the ripple effect is destabilizing. Whether she is a woman with obstetric fistula who must seek surgical care, she is a mother experiencing complications in childbirth who requires medical intervention for a safe delivery, or a mother accompanying her child for orthopedic care or eye surgery her absence is keenly felt by those at home and in her community.

Kupona, through CCBRT, supports affordable, comprehensive care for women and children. From transportation costs, to providing room and board, and throughout treatment, there is a focus on easing the family’s burden. For those needing outpatient care, trained therapists travel to homes to deliver training and patient monitoring, allowing mothers to stay at work and avoid costly travel. Whenever possible, we use mobile phones and mobile technology – to assist with appointment reminders, follow-up to ensure patients are having good outcomes, and as a means to help patients travel to the hospital – for fistula and cleft lip/palate patients, the cost of transportation can be a barrier to accessing care – even if the services are free.

On my last day of travel, I enlisted the help of a local fellow and his pikipiki (motorized scooter) to help get me to the bus stop. As we were driving, a woman suddenly stepped out and waved us down. She asked if I was the Fistula Lady. She had overheard conversations in the village that someone working with CCBRT and Kupona was in town and could help women with fistula, so she came looking for me.

She told me her sister-in-law had experienced terrible symptoms after a difficult labor and had delivered a stillborn child. Her husband, believing her to be ill or cursed, and embarrassed by her physical state, sent their two older children away to his parents, refusing to allow them to see their mother. My new friend was determined to help her desperate sister-in-law and asked for our help. She added that there were many more women in surrounding communities that were living with fistula, and they needed our help too. I thought about that forlorn mother who had been separated from her children after surviving such horrific and preventable trauma. I thought about her heartsick children and misguided husband and the grief that all of them must be feeling. And it was then that I vowed to continue the work Kupona and CCBRT are engaged in.

Keeping women whole, healthy and at the center of Tanzanian life is a worthy goal, and through Kupona’s support of CCBRT and its programs we are doing our part to achieve this goal. I invite you to join us. Email us with questions, visit our impact page to learn more or read our Annual Report. Every woman, every child and every family deserves to have access to high quality healthcare that is affordable. And when a family or community loses its heartbeat, the ripple effect of that loss touches so many.

Asante sana,

Betsy
Birth Doula, Postpartum Doula, Breastfeeding Counselor, Childbirth Educator
Kupona Foundation Board of Directors

November 26, 2018

Dr. Brenda D’mello ‘A Sweet Victory’

As we wind down the last weeks of 2018, my team and I are reflecting on a year that has been difficult, yet so rewarding. Our CCBRT Maternal Health Capacity Building team feels we sometimes learn more than we teach. While working together with our partners and healthcare providers, we find new solutions to old challenges.

Recently, we conducted a refresher on-the-job training for healthcare workers that focused on postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). PPH is the leading cause of maternal mortality in Tanzania, accounting for more than 30% of all maternal deaths. The tragedy is that death due to PPH is preventable. The challenge is it requires an entire team to respond. Unfortunately, a full team of medical professionals is not always available. Staff shortages, gaps in training, and overwhelmed, overcrowded delivery wards in Tanzania are all factors that can contribute to a mother’s life being lost in just minutes.

At one of the facilities where my team trains and mentors healthcare workers, the supervising medical officer identified that staffing was an issue and that sometimes emergency cases did not have the support they needed. She wisely requested that we train non-maternal healthcare staff in PPH management. So, we conducted the training, even training outpatient nurses and staff from wards serving men only.

One week after the training, this medical officer called me with so much excitement. The night before, a patient had delivered her baby, and began to hemorrhage after delivery. The attending nurse shouted for help, but the doctor and only other nurse on duty in the ward were handling an emergency caesarean section in the operating theater. The nurse’s cries reached the neighboring wards, and ‘help’ came running from the outpatient and men’s wards. Thanks to the training they had received the week before, everyone knew exactly what to do. The team saved the mother’s life.

The medical officer told me that before her staff received the PPH training, they would have been afraid to respond to an emergency like this, but not anymore. Her staff were excited and motivated. She said, ‘For them, it truly was a sweet victory.”

My team and I are always grateful for these moments. Equipment and innovation in low-resource settings are critical for progress, but at the heart of our success lies one indispensable resource: people. It is the people we train, their collaboration, their courage in the face of emergencies, and their dedication to their patients that will change the face of maternal healthcare in Tanzania. And it is your support that empowers us to keep going.

We are more powerful together.

Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday in the United States. Here in Tanzania, we are also answering the call to give. I invite you to join us. Your gift of $100 provides training for two healthcare workers to save lives at birth, to prevent birth injuries like obstetric fistula, and to identify congenital disabilities like clubfoot for immediate referral and treatment. Just as one nurse cannot do the work of a full team, our success requires us all to work together for the mothers we are serving.

Thank you for supporting my team, and for helping us save the lives of women and newborns in Tanzania.

Be well,

Dr. Brenda D’mello
Technical Advisor & Project Manager
Maternal Health Capacity Building Program, CCBRT

August 31, 2018

New Private Clinic 101

Originally posted on the CCBRT blog

We’re excited to announce that after three years of construction, the new CCBRT Private Clinic building opened in July.

Confused about what our Private Clinic is, or how it differs from our standard services? Today we’re answering your questions.

What is the Private Clinic?

In 2004, CCBRT started offering private services to help subsidize the cost of care provided to patients who cannot afford crucial health services. Since then, the clinic has grown substantially: last year it served 7,608 new patients and provided 11,630 consultations. The revenue it generated was reinvested into the provision of CCBRT’s standard services, ultimately funding treatment for 20% of the hospital’s patients.

Although physically separate from the rest of the hospital, the Private Clinic offers the same high-quality ophthalmology, optometry, orthopedics and rehabilitation services, in addition to ear, nose and throat (ENT) and gynecological services. Patients at the Private Clinic can book appointments in advance over the phone, and the clinic building offers air conditioning, free internet and waiting room televisions.

What’s special about the new Private Clinic building?
The new building expands CCBRT’s current Private Clinic space by 300%,giving us more room to accommodate more patients in our current service areas, and to expand into new services.

In addition to our existing private service areas – ophthalmology, optical, orthopedics, physiotherapy, ENT and gynecology – the expanded clinic will offer a well baby and pediatric clinic, and will ultimately provide general medicine consultations. As well as a larger optical shop, the clinic will contain its own pharmacy and a phlebotomy lab for patients to visit for bloodwork and lab tests.

With large windows and motion sensor lights, the clinic is both well lit and energy efficient. Disability-accessible toilets are located on each floor, and the building’s four levels are connected by both stairs and elevators. As in the existing Private Clinic, patients will have air conditioning and free wi-fi. Visitors to the clinic can park in the parking lot close to the building’s main entrance on Ali Bin Said Road.

Why does CCBRT need a Private Clinic?
CCBRT provides life-changing care to thousands of Tanzanians living with disabilities every year. To ensure that everyone who needs our services is able to access them, we provide high-quality treatment to our patients at highly subsidized rates or free of charge. We believe cost shouldn’t be a barrier to healthcare.

The Private Clinic doesn’t only enable us to reach more Tanzanians with high quality medical services – it also helps make our accessible model sustainable in the long term. “Our goal is to be the major donor for CCBRT,” says Rehema Ngamilo, General Manager for Private Services. “Our goal is to give back to CCBRT so that we can give back to the community.”

What are the Private Clinic’s hours?
In addition to new space and new services, the new clinic will also offer extended hours for some service areas. The eye clinic, orthopedic clinic, optical shop and pharmacy will be open from 7:30am to 8pm from Monday to Friday, and from 9am to 1pm on Saturday. ENT will maintain its current hours: 7:30am to 4pm Monday to Friday. Hours for the gynecology, well baby and pediatric, physiotherapy and general medicine clinics will be set following the clinic’s opening.

May 14, 2018

Partnerships for Progress: Improving the health and wellbeing of children with disabilities

This month, Kupona Foundation launched a new partnership with the Dorothea Haus Ross Foundation to strengthen the comprehensive network of support available to children with disabilities and their families in Tanzania.

Funds will support training for parents/carers of children with disabilities, helping them to provide quality support for their children at home. Training will also be provided to government healthcare providers to strengthen delivery of rehabilitative services in healthcare facilities and community support units. At the community level, community events will increase awareness of rehabilitation services and promote inclusion. The grant will also facilitate knowledge exchanges between CCBRT and its peers in order to strengthen the network of community based inclusive development providers in the East Africa region. Combined, these activities will drive the sustainability of CCBRT’s established rehabilitation services, making quality care accessible to more children and their families.

Ken Goody, Foundation Executive at the Dorothea Haus Ross Foundation said, “At the Ross Foundation, we focus on alleviating the suffering experienced by vulnerable children and, when possible, strive toward the elimination of its root causes. We are thrilled to expand the Ross Foundation’s footprint in Tanzania by supporting this globally respected rehabilitation program, to make sustainable investments that strengthen the quality of rehabilitative care available to children with disabilities and their families.”

Unlocking opportunities for children with disabilities

Addressing disability during a child’s formative years is crucial to mitigate the impact of disability on health and development. More than half of children with disabilities in Tanzania do not attend school, limiting their access to education and future economic opportunity. Raising a child with a lifelong disability is also a significant challenge for parents and caregivers. With 86% of the Tanzanian population at risk of falling deeper into poverty because of healthcare expenses, families of a child with a disability are at particular risk for extreme poverty if they are unable to access affordable care for their child. Stigma associated with disability in Tanzanian communities also leaves children and their families excluded from their communities, and without a strong system of support. The dearth of skilled healthcare workers across the Tanzanian healthcare system exacerbates these challenges.

A comprehensive solution

CCBRT delivers high quality, specialist services at two rehabilitation centers: one in Moshi, serving rural communities in the north of Tanzania, and one in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city. At these centers, CCBRT delivers high quality physiotherapy and occupational therapy, as well as special seating services and provision of assistive devices, including standing frames, prostheses and orthoses. In the community, CCBRT has established a network of Community Support Units in both Dar es Salaam and Moshi for the families of children with disabilities, providing a place for families to gather with their children, receive support from a trained physiotherapist/occupational therapist and develop a peer support system. CCBRT conducts home visits and community outreach to ensure long term support and follow up is provided to children with disabilities and their families in their home environment. CCBRT also uses training, lobbying and community awareness activities to build the capacity of parents, communities and government healthcare providers. This enables these groups to embrace their roles as primary caregivers and brings quality care closer to communities.

Abbey Kocan, Executive Director of Kupona Foundation said, “CCBRT has a 20+ year legacy of community-based rehabilitation work. Without trained caregivers and healthcare workers, an engaged and inclusive community, and a strong network of quality care providers, the impact of CCBRT’s efforts to deliver services to vulnerable children would be limited. The Ross Foundation’s contribution will act as a catalyst to enable the success of our overall program. We’re delighted to welcome them to the Kupona Foundation community.”

April 20, 2018

CCBRT Academy: Tackling Human Resources for Health Challenges in Tanzania

Did you know that there is a severe shortage of healthcare workers globally? The shortage is estimated to reach 18 million by 2030.

Did you know that this shortage is hitting countries like Tanzania particularly hard? Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 11% of the world’s population. The region shoulders 24% of the global burden of disease, yet only accounts for 3% of the world’s health workers. Tanzania alone can count on just 5.2 clinical health workers per 10,000 people: one fifth of the optimal ratio recommended by the World Health Organization. The country also lacks sufficient numbers of trained specialists, with only 177 specialist surgeons and fewer than 22 anesthesiologists available to serve a population of over 55 million. The health workforce that does exist has limited access to medical education and professional development.

These shortages have a particularly damaging effect on the health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable, including women, children, and people with disabilities. It also makes it hard for providers, like our partner, CCBRT, to serve their patients, as they struggle to recruit and retain the skilled teams they need to deliver high quality, specialized services. Without well trained, well equipped healthcare workers people simply cannot access the quality of care they need and deserve. And without adequate healthcare, people’s access to education, employment and economic opportunity is limited too.

With the support of the Kupona community, our colleagues at CCBRT have been taking action to train and build the capacity of healthcare workers in Tanzania and further afield for many years. The maternal and newborn healthcare capacity building program empowers nurses like Ladness to save newborn lives. CCBRT’s expert fistula surgeons are sharing their skills with surgeons from around the world. CCBRT also gives its own staff many opportunities for continued professional development.

Until now, CCBRT’s efforts to strengthen the health workforce have been implemented in both CCBRT’s hospital in Dar es Salaam and at partner facilities across the country. They had no dedicated training facility, and no formalized central training program.

That’s all about to change.

Since 2015, with the support of Kupona partners Johnson & Johnson and the UCLA Anderson School of Management, CCBRT has been developing detailed plans for a Center of Excellence in Clinical Education. We’re delighted to announce that these plans will soon become a reality, with the opening of the CCBRT Academy next month.

“[The CCBRT Academy] is the realization of a vision that we have had for a long time here,” says Technical Advisor for Training and Capacity Building Tilman Hannig. Through a unique combination of in-person training, online education and practical, hands-on experience, “it will allow us to better professionalize and develop our own staff, as well as health workers from beyond CCBRT.”

When it’s ready, the training center will include room for meetings, small workshops, large trainings and simulations in a lab mimicking a real hospital setting, and will use CCBRT’s existing computer lab for online courses and digital education. The Academy will be a learning environment of the highest quality to enrich educational experiences for the region’s healthcare heroes.

Indeed, training through the Academy has already launched, starting with a Training of Trainers on clubfoot casting techniques for participants from around world, including 20 from Africa last week. In the coming weeks, the Academy will provide and host trainings on topics ranging from ophthalmology equipment and small incision cataract surgery to customer care and breastfeeding.

We are excited to see the CCBRT Academy thrive, and address one of the most serious challenges facing the healthcare system in Tanzania. As Tilman says, “We have the space. Now we need to fill it with life.”

April 6, 2018

Mapping CCBRT’s Impact: Why Do Patients Come From All Over Tanzania?

Originally posted on the CCBRT blog

Last year, CCBRT’s Ophthalmology Department provided more than 70,500 consultations and conducted more than 7,500 surgeries in the main hospital in Dar es Salaam. As you can see on the maps below, the patients who received these services came from all over Tanzania – and even beyond, from other countries in East Africa.

Why do patients come from so far to get eye services at CCBRT?

Since CCBRT first opened in 2001, the hospital has built a nationwide reputation as a provider of high quality eye services. Although options for eye services are gradually becoming more widespread, Tanzania still faces a serious shortage of eyecare professionals: the country currently has only 0.8 ophthalmologists for every one million people.

From the U.S., Kupona is proud to support efforts that increase access to high quality eye health services through fund and awareness raising, and through collaborations with esteemed partners like Lavelle Fund for the Blind. This partnership will support critical financial and technical investments over the next two years, enabling the CCBRT team to scale the provision of low cost, high quality services to people living with blindness or visual impairment in Tanzania, and to sustain these critical services for future generations.

At CCBRT, the Ophthalmology Department team has decades of experience, including team members like Dr Cyprian Ntomoka, Eye Department Head and Vice President of the Tanzania Ophthalmology Society; Dr Sonia Vaitha, one of only three ophthalmologists in the country specializing in treating children; and Rehema Semindu, Tanzania’s only prosthetic eye technician. Each exemplifies the dedication and specialized knowledge of the department’s 3 specialist ophthalmologists, 2 ophthalmologists, 7 Medical Doctors and Assistant Medical Officers, 5 optometrists, one low vision therapist, and 50 nurses.

This unique expertise is why doctors around Tanzania refer their eye patients to CCBRT, and why people travel from places as far away as Mbeya and Mwanza to seek treatment in our main hospital.

We are proud of the work the Ophthalmology Department does, and we are committed to leveraging in-house expertise as we continue to fight against avoidable blindness in Tanzania.