Global Surgery in Action

 The Global Surgery Division has 2 focus areas, knowledge and impact. Our knowledge clusters are education and research. In our education cluster we teach Global Surgery courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level; and we also have capacity building courses for clinicians and specialists, and community healthcare workers. Our Research Cluster aims to do research to understand, interrogate and intervene towards surgical systems strengthening. Our Impact clusters are the Implementation, and Advocacy Clusters, which we also call ‘Global Surgery in Action’. Our Global Surgery in Action Programme has 4 areas of intervention: 1) Community Engagement 2) Quality Improvement 3) Capacity Building and 4) Policy Engagement. We run Global Surgery projects and programmes at community level, facility level, subnational and national level, often in partnership with non-governmental organisations, and international funding agencies. We have research, advocacy and implementation projects across South Africa, and the African continent.

Anaesthesia Launchpad

In Partnership with the Eastern Cape Province Department of Health we have an anaesthesia training programme for medical officers in district hospitals. The course runs for 2 -3 days and aims to develop capacity for safe anaesthesia in district hospitals. The curriculum was co-designed with local specialists based on the needs of the trainees and skills deficits. The South African Society of Anaesthesia and Draeger are our partners. This programme is led by Dr Rowan Duys and Dr Simon Le Roux.

Simulation Launchpad

The Simulation Launchpad course is run over two days in-person at UCT and is designed to ensure solid basic educational theory and practical concepts related to simulation-based education before moving into practice. The course facilitators are experienced South African simulation educators. The vision is:  A candidate is able to return to their place of work and run simple clinical simulations. The course is run by the Faculty of Health Sciences and the SHARE Initiative. This programme is led by Jo Park-Ross

Limpopo Obstetric Response Team

Our team has partnered with the Limpopo Department of Health and the University of Limpopo Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology towards. This programme is led by Dr Dakalo Muavha, a PhD Candidate and an alumni of our Executive Leadership in Global Surgery Programme. The project is supported by Professor Salome Maswime and Professor Sue Fawcus from the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department.

Operation Smile

The partnership with Operation Smile aims to strengthen cleft surgery training and research in Africa. The clinical paediatric anaesthesia fellowship based at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital (RCWMCH) supports a South African and an International fellow. The programme also supports Surgical Leadership training through bursaries for the Executive Leadership course in Global Surgery, and research  clinical fellows towards an MSc Global Surgery.

Perioperative Care

The Perioperative Care programme is focused on strengthening the quality and safety of perioperative care in low and middle income settings, and the implementation of Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) in the public and private South Africa . Pilot studies have been completed and scale up is being tested. Perioperative guidelines for LMICs  were developed in Partnership with the ERAS Society and the World Bank. Ravi Oodit is the Perioperative care lead.

Stillbirth Systems Strengthening

The programme aims to strengtheni data systems for stillbirth in Africa, with a focus on systems in Ethiopia and Namibia. This is a partnership with UNICEF and Africa CDC.. Salome Maswime and Mary Kinney are the leads on this programme.

Breast, Cervical and Prostate Cancer Workshops in the Western Cape Province

Over the last 2 years we have been running community workshops with community leaders and community healthcare workers in Gugulethu and Manenberg, in partnership with the Community health forums. The workshops are interactive, and focus on health promotion, health education and advocacy.

Community Healthcare Worker Training Programme

We launched a Community Healthcare Worker Training programme on Cancer. This is a 2-day course run at the Faculty of Health Sciences, in partnership with local NGO’s. The training is run by our Global Surgery team in collaboration with specialist from the wider Department of Surgery.

Community Health Forum Workshops

The Advocacy team supports the Community Health Forum Workshops by  sharing information with local communities on topics chosen by the community. These have ranged from cancer, to pregnancy, to mental health. Together with our colleagues from other UCT Departments, we continue  to build capacity by supporting workshops of this nature.

Primary Surgical Care

We are developing a pilot concept of a Primary Surgical Care Clinic in Cape Town, to increase access to surgical care for the detection and treatment of minor surgical conditions, which are often missed or delay in presentation, because of barriers to accessing the health system.

Global Surgery Primary Surgical Care Certificate

Emerging from the various advocacy workshops, we have identified the need for the piloting of a UCT short course for community health advocates who work in communities either as volunteers or employees of community health forums (CHFs), community health teams (CHT), Non Government Organisations (NGOs), Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and Faith Based Organisations (FBOs). The programme will use a systems thinking approach to strengthen access to surgical care enabling quality improvement in supportive care and rehabilitation in underserved community settings.