Content Resources

The principles of abdominal surgery are not different in Africa, but the presentation, available diagnostic tools and frequency of certain etiologies is significantly different. The approach and therapy the more common causes of the acute abdomen will be the primary diseases discussed.

This is a primer of how to get started in palliative care and can be used to teach others as well. There is also a companion Palliative Care Toolkit Trainers Manual available for use with medical missions physician assistants, doctors, and nurses.. Both documents are available in a number of languages.

Chronic hepatitis B and C cause cirrhosis and liver cancer, and are major causes of death throughout sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Advances in the diagnosis and management of these chronic viral infections are beginning to impact patient outcomes in low and middle income countries. In this session current hepatitis global guidelines will be discussed, as well as practical issues and new solutions for hepatitis care in resource-limited settings.

This session will describe a variety of opportunities to reach out internationally through educating healthcare professionals desiring advanced skills and knowledge. This will include not only specialty specific opportunities, but those related to faculty development, bioethics, advanced life support training, and other topics.

Overview and update of Tuberculosis in global health, augmented with cases from around the world.

of the 6.3 million children under the age of five who died in 2013, 44% (2.761 million) were neonates (defined as age 0-28 days). Over the past decade, neonatal mortality decreased at an annual rate of 2.9% compared to 4.9% in children aged 1-59 months. This smaller reduction in under-five mortality (U5M) among neonates is a significant contributor to the worldwide failure to achieve Millennium Developmental Goal 4 this year. Reducing global neonatal mortality through prevention and treatment programs in low-to-middle-income countries (LMIC), where nearly all U5M occurs, is a high priority among global child survival agendas.

Why is HIV/AIDS still a concern on the mission field? HIV prevalence and AIDS death rates have declined in many countries, yet HIV/AIDS continues to have tremendous medical, emotional, economic and social challenges. Using case presentations, this workshop will explore HIV/AIDS treatment and care drawing from the speaker’s experience in Africa.

Contemporary criticism by global health experts of much of short term medical missions activity (Dead Aid, When Helping Hurts) is valid. We have a tendency to justify use of US diagnostic and treatment guidelines in low income countries as equitable while demonstrably unreasonable and harmful. Careful consideration of the whole care process from care access to care follow-up including all costs including harms and benefits coupled with compassion leads to cost-effective, patient-centric care

There is little in the medical literature about applying the basic tenets of medical ethics in resource limited situations common in mission hospitals. For example, healthcare professionals are taught not to attempt medical or surgical interventions they have not be trained to do. That prohibition will be quickly violated when you are the only option for the patient. With real life stories and practical suggestions, this talk prepares future missionaries to serve well and ethically overseas.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa not only challenged governments, NGOs, and health systems, but had ripple effects including the closure of hospitals and clinics and loss of health care workers. Over the past year, training has taken place, hospitals have reopened, and survivors are being treated. However, Liberia's Medical College remains closed (as of June 2015), and many other areas are still adversely affected. ELWA Hospital's experience shows how a Mission hospital has navigated through this crisis, and how God's aims have been furthered. .

Untreated caries of the deciduous and permanent dentition is number one in global prevalence of disease by a large margin. This lecture will focus on strategies for caries prevention and treatment in settings with limited resources.

This talk will review common parasitic diseases in the tropics. The classification, presentation and basic treatment of these syndromes will be discussed in a case-based format. Visual recognition of findings will be part of this interactive session, using an audience response system. We will focus mostly on classic skin, abdominal, and pulmonary syndromes. We will also discuss some beneficial effects of parasites on childhood immune development. Less emphasis will be placed on parasites covered in other sessions, such as malaria. Let me know if you have a case to discuss or a specific question before the session.