'Safe Delivery of Anaesthesia in Children and Cleft Lip/Palate Patients in Africa'
July 26 - 28, 2010
Sarova PanAfric Hotel, Nairobi
AMREF successfully organised the first Pan African Anaesthesia Symposium in June 2008 funded by Smile Train USA and attended by 343 delegates. Spurred on by the success of this conference, AMREF and Smile Train USA now plan to host a second conference, under the theme ‘Safe Delivery of Anaesthesia in Children and Cleft Lip/Palate Patients in Africa’ from July 26 - 28, 2010 at the Sarova PanAfric Hotel, Nairobi.
Overview
The aim of this second conference is to bring together Africa-based partners of Smile Train and health workers across Africa including anaesthetists, anaesthesiologists and surgeons involved in cleft care along with those from outside Africa to share their expertise in the planning of successful development and deployment of safe anaesthesia service for children with different disease entities particularly with regard to cleft lip and palate. The conference aims to provide a platform for individuals with common interests to examine the emerging and most advanced aspects of anaesthesia. The focus will be on finding realistic solutions and practical planning to improve the delivery of anaesthesia to children in Sub-Saharan Africa and in particular to children operated under the Smile Train program.
Goals
The goals of this conference are to improve the quality of paediatric anaesthesia service and to foster an exchange of ideas, approaches, and experiences that will improve the continent's ability to deliver safe anaesthesia. The conference will enhance the capacity and the skill of the participants in the field of child anaesthesia and will bring a common understanding on how to improve the infrastructure for optimal anaesthesia service delivery.
Objectives
The conference will be a follow up of the progress made after the first Pan African Anaesthesia Symposium held in June 2008 and will provide a forum to assess the impact of the Symposium’s recommendations for the safe delivery of anaesthesia in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The four main recommendations of the June 2008 conference are as follows:
- The enforcement of an agreed set of “best practice” or Guidelines on safe delivery of anaesthesia in children in Africa.
- The inclusion of an anaesthesiologist within the Smile Train/AMREF’s cleft project who will work alongside the surgeons to build upon the lessons learnt at local levels, ensuring standard and quality is achieved and maintained by the collaborating partners.
- Implementation of the key recommendations made during the symposium across the region
- The anaesthesia and theatre equipment in the region is a major problem that will require sustained policy influence.
The conference will solicit presentations in three general areas.
- Current applications of paediatric anaesthesia that have been or are being developed to address the demand and explain the gaps between the demand and the quality and quantity of the delivered service.
- Technical work that showcases innovative ideas and initiatives towards enabling practical applications of better and improved practice in the field in the future.
- Follow up and feedback on the progress made after the 2008 conference.
The conference particularly encourages presentations in the areas of mixed-initiative problem- solving and knowledge transfer.
Description of Meeting
The conference will be held for 2 ⅟₂ days from Monday, July 26 to Wednesday, July 28, 2010. The conference will comprise plenary, breakout and poster sessions, as well as an exhibition.
Plenary sessions will typically include a 45minute keynote speech, presentations from selected abstracts and panel discussions, while breakout sessions will feature skills-building workshops as well as presentations of selected abstracts.
Participants and faculty: 350 participants will be invited from all Smile Train partner hospitals in Africa in addition to African experts in the field of anaesthesia providing an international mix of participants, and professionals involved in the safe delivery of anaesthesia across selected hospitals in Africa. Two-thirds of the faculty will be from Africa and the rest from outside Africa.
For more information contact: Emma Gituku |
