About the Tanzania Neurosurgery Project
The Weill Cornell Medicine Neurosurgery Program in Tanzania was started by Dr. Roger Härtl in 2008. The program focuses on Bugando Hospital in northern Tanzania, a regional center that serves a population of 14 million people, and on the Muhimbili Orthopedic and Neurosurgery Institute in Dar es Salaam. The program consists of several components:
- Dr. Härtl and his team train local surgeons to perform basic neurosurgical procedures using locally available equipment and resources. His team conducts “hands-on” training of doctors in Tanzania, empowering them with a high level of expertise in the management of neurosurgical disorders and neurosurgical procedures (Wait and Härtl 2010). Providing the highest level of surgical training to these eager, talented surgeons impacts every other level of care—nursing, anesthesia, intensive care treatment, general ward care. Setting the bar high encourages a positive response and team effort involving all areas (Härtl).
- Promising surgeons are selected for a short-term observational fellowship at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. The purpose of this fellowship is to provide motivated surgeons the opportunity to experience high-level neurosurgical care firsthand. This also greatly facilitates the communication between the Weill Cornell team and the Tanzania surgeons once the surgeon has returned home.
- Every year a neurosurgery meeting is organized with international faculty in East Africa that combines lectures, practical workshops, and live surgeries (Kahamba 2011). Surgeons and nurses from many African countries participate.
- Regular conference calls and Skype conferences are held between the Weill Cornell team and their colleagues in Tanzania to discuss challenging cases and patient management.
- A database and patient registry has been implemented that monitors surgical patient care and ensures quality (Winkler et
al., 2010). The goal is to monitor outcomes of neurosurgical procedures in order to make decisions about the allocation of resources and the success of the current program.
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Dr. Härtl recently conducted his 2023 neurotrauma course and is planning new courses focused on scoliosis and minimally invasive techniques. See Highlights from Tanzania 2023, and please help support these efforts. You can also see photos and videos from the project on Facebook at the Tanzania Neurosurgery Project page.
Dr. Härtl recently appeared on The Neurosurgery Podcast to talk about the Tanzania project. Listen here:
Neurosurgery Podcast · Episode 56 - Global Neurosurgery: The Tanzanian Experience
Images of Tanzania
I came across the Weill Cornell Medicine Global Health Neurosurgery Fellowship by pure chance one evening last year in London, when I typed “global neurosurgery” into a search engine. I emailed Dr. Härtl immediately, attaching my CV and asking about...
Tanzania Neurosurgery Project
The Weill Cornell Medicine Neurosurgery Program in Tanzania, started in 2008 by Dr. Roger Härtl, focuses on Bugando Hospital in northern Tanzania and on the Muhimbili Orthopedic and Neurosurgery Institute in Dar es Salaam.