Laos Project
Overview
The Health Frontiers Laos project, active since 1991, is aimed at helping to strengthen the struggling Faculty of Medical Sciences at the National University of Laos.
HF volunteers have helped the Lao faculty to launch intensive three-year residency training programs in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, the first continuous postgraduate medical education programs in the history of the country. The curricula are based on specific Lao health needs, and are consistent with international standards.
The Pediatric Residency Program, started in 1997, has graduated 42 Lao pediatricians, and has 18 more in training. For a country like Laos with three million children, and previously only seven fully trained pediatricians, the ability to add six new pediatricians a year has huge health implications.
The Internal Medicine program, started in 2002, has graduated 23 internists. These physicians will be able to address the growing burden of chronic disease present in an aging population.
HF has taken a leading role in developing Continuing Medical Education for Lao physicians, by supporting annual academic conferences held in Laos, as well as facilitating CME opportunities for Lao physicians in other countries.
HF volunteers also support Lao curriculum and faculty development. In 2002-03 they served as World Bank consultants on a restructuring of Lao medical education. Earlier, HF helped the Lao faculty to launch a village-based community health training program for medical students.
Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, Laos PDR
The major HF resource supporting these activities is the donated time of the volunteer faculty. Our current team in Laos includes Internal Medicine and Nephrology specialist Christine Johns, Pediatrician Leila Srour and administrator/IT engineer Bryan Watt. The project is supported in the US by volunteer Project Director Melanie Rosenberg, based in Washington, DC, and Internal Medicine coordinator Rosemary Quirk and IM-Peds volunteer Jon White, based in the Twin Cities.
Other volunteers, from North American and Australian centers and Khon Kaen University in Thailand, make short term teaching visits to Laos. Khon Kaen University continues to provide more than 36 tuition-free training rotations per year for the Lao residents. Collaboration with Khon Kaen University and the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia has also led to the first fellowship training opportunities for graduates of the Pediatric and Internal Medicine training programs.
Cash funding for the project comes mainly from individual contributions, however the Laos project has also received generous funding from WHO, Oxiana, and the Tom Dooley Heritage Fund.
Generous contributions of books and supplies have been made by individual volunteers as well as various organizations. Direct Relief International has donated thousands of dollars in medical supplies and equipment for residents including oto-ophthalmoscopes, stethoscopes, and textbooks. In 2006, a generous donation of new textbooks for Pediatric and Internal Medicine residents was received from the British Medical Association.