The Faculty of the David Nott Foundation recently returned from its latest mission to Nakura, Kenya (just a short ride from the capital Nairobi) where it delivered its latest Hostile Environment Surgical Training course.

 

Graciously hosted by Egerton University and COESCSA, the Faculty delivered training to 24 surgeons and general practitioners over a 4-day period. During this time, a great range of skills were covered including everything from ballistics examining the effects of low and high-velocity bullets and the stages of a blast injury on the body; vascular surgery and head and neck surgery.

Despite the course being full-on and packed with content, all the delegates were conscientious and showed impressive dedication to learning all they could from the course.
On our HEST courses it is important to select a curriculum of training we feel will best match the level of ability of delegates in attendance. With the general practitioners being relatively experienced and accomplished surgeons, the level of training was advanced and the quality of interaction all round was excellent.

A recent addition to our team (one that comes in the form of a full-body simulator called Heston) has proven to be one of our most valuable assets. It makes a great addition to the training process, allowing delegates to easily visualise and study further the surgical procedures being taught, with reference to a perfectly accurate human body.

 

As ever, we are grateful to our donors for supporting us in our increasingly important work to deliver the best surgical training directly to those who need it most. A recent study in The Lancet showed that nearly 17 million people die prematurely every year from surgically treatable conditions, and that of the 313 million surgical procedures that  are carried out each year, only 6% of these take place in the poorest countries worldwide. Furthermore, the study notes that, 5 billion people worldwide do not have access to safe and affordable healthcare and that 143 million additional surgical procedures are needed in lower and middle-income countries  in order to save lives and prevent disability.

 

 

What this shows then is a lack of, currently, adequate surgical healthcare worldwide, though impacting the poorest nations most. We believe our mission ties in directly with one of the primary needs for the provision of safe surgical care as suggested by the authors of this study: increased numbers of trained surgical providers.

 

 

With this in mind, any support you kindly give us goes a long way to tackling this issue that effects so many. Our training serves those on the front-lines. Our training saves lives.