Department of Surgery, Lagoon Hospitals, Lagos, Nigeria.
Department of Surgery, University of Lagos, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria.
World Neurosurg. 2020 Sep;141:e566-e575. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2020.05.242. Epub 2020 Jun 4.
Lack of standard neurosurgical training has long been a major factor limiting the availability of neurosurgical services in most parts of Africa. International collaborative efforts have however, to a large extent, resolved this challenge.
A review of previous international collaborative programs and educational initiatives in Africa along with their outcomes and accomplishments was conducted. We make a few recommendations on how these programs could be further improved upon toward more productivity and better output with the few available facilities in Africa.
Various international collaborative programs focusing on neurosurgery education and training currently exist in East Africa with well-documented advancements in achieving their goals and especially include Neurosurgery Education and Development Foundation, the Weill Cornell Tanzania Neurosurgery project, Duke East Africa Neurosurgery Program, Duke Global Neurosurgery and Neurosciences, and CURE Hydrocephalus Program. In West Africa, they include the Swedish African Neurosurgical Collaboration and the Association of West African Neurosurgeons.
So far, collaborative neurosurgical education and training has been an effective approach in efficiently and progressively increasing capacity in Africa. To further improve the quality of neurosurgical care in Africa in the face of difficult economic circumstances and significant neurosurgical disease burden, implementation of the suggested recommendations will enhance the capacity and sustainability of these existing programs with the few available facilities and equipment and would go a long way in further reducing the burden in Africa.
缺乏标准的神经外科培训一直是限制大多数非洲地区神经外科服务的主要因素。然而，国际合作努力在很大程度上解决了这一挑战。
对非洲以前的国际合作计划和教育计划及其成果和成就进行了回顾。我们就如何进一步改进这些计划提出了一些建议，以便在非洲现有的少量设施基础上，提高生产力和更好的产出。
目前，东非存在各种专注于神经外科学教育和培训的国际合作计划，在实现其目标方面取得了有案可稽的进展，其中包括神经外科学教育和发展基金会、康奈尔大学坦桑尼亚神经外科学项目、杜克大学东非神经外科学计划、杜克全球神经外科学和神经科学以及 CURE 脑积水计划。在西非，包括瑞典非洲神经外科学合作和西非神经外科学协会。
到目前为止，合作神经外科学教育和培训一直是在非洲有效提高能力的有效方法。为了在困难的经济环境和大量神经外科疾病负担下进一步提高非洲的神经外科学护理质量，实施这些建议将增强这些现有计划的能力和可持续性，利用现有的少量设施和设备，这将大大减轻非洲的负担。
