AFRO-NETS> Telemedicine and Trachoma

[Benedict Tisa <btisa@smtp.aed.org>]

Telemedicine and Trachoma
-------------------------

Dear Folks,

Helen Keller International has been funded by The Gates Foundation to 
strengthen and expand community education and training activities 
surrounding efforts to control trachoma. The project will be carried 
out in seven of the nine countries: Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China, 
Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Tanzania and Viet Nam. Interventions 
will include:

1. Improving quality of community trachoma services through develop-
ment of comprehensive training materials that will have a regional 
capacity-building impact, and effective outreach strategies to in-
crease access to trichiasis surgery and disease treatment. 

2. Developing an innovative school-based community trachoma and eye 
health education program tailored to the context of individual coun-
tries based on ethnographic and social research and adapted with in-
put from teachers and other community representatives.

3. Strengthening capacity of the health and education sectors in each 
country by introducing technology for producing educational publica-
tions, improving access to the Internet, and promoting linkages 
across borders and between government health and education offices.


An important part of this will be to equip a hospital in Bamako with 
facilities to use telemedicine and distance diagnosis in the fight 
against trachoma. This would include equipping clinics and small hos-
pitals with internet capabilities that would allow not only the 
transfer of documents and e-mail but also digital imagery for diagno-
sis.

We are at the very start up of the program and are in the midst of 
planning for the necessary hardware and software that would be appro-
priate for Mali. Does any one on the list know of some examples or 
resources that would help us in the determination of the type and 
cost of materials needed to provide the hospital with a sustainable 
telemedicine system that would be expandable and sustainable?
  
Thanks for you help,

Benedict Tisa
Senior Technical Advisor
Helen Keller International, Trachoma Project
mailto:btisa@aed.org

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