The long-standing partnership between the evangelisch-lutherischen Diakoniewerk Neuendettelsau and the Nkoaranga Lutheran Hospital in Tanzania focuses mainly on treating children born with a clubfoot.
Problem: Until 2000 there were few opportunities in northern Tanzania to obtain medical treatment for orthopaedic conditions. Thanks to a knowledge-sharing arrangement with a German team of surgeons, the professionals at Nkoaranga Hospital have learned to treat clubfoot using the Ponseti method. From this has developed Tanzania’s only early treatment for congenital clubfoot.
Main activities: The first priority is for more Tanzanian staff to receive basic and further training, thus enabling them to treat children independently. Assignments undertaken by the German team in Tanzania and on-site visits as part of a visiting physicians’ programme for Tanzanian staff at the Cnopfsche Kinderklinik in Nürnberg are to provide training for Tanzanian staff in the nursing and physiotherapeutic treatment of children having undergone orthopaedic surgery, while doctors are to be trained in the technique of percutaneous Achilles tenotomy und and the post-operative treatment of clubfoot patients.
Short-term results: Tanzanian professionals receive basic and advanced training in caring for children who have undergone orthopaedic surgery.
Long-term results: Tanzanian professionals can provide high-quality care for children with orthopaedic conditions.