SPECT Research Project in Tanzania

Research team: Dan, Nyasige, Theresia, Olive

Olive and I are once again in Africa, this time in Tanzania, doing research follow-up visits to hospitals that Sterile Processing Education Charitable Trust (SPECT) has been working with over the past year. We are assessing the impact of the education and mentoring that SPECT's Educator, Christina, along with several volunteers, provided to staff from 10+ hospitals in the Kagera and Mara regions. During her last visit to these hospitals, Christina recommended a number of changes based on international best practices. We have been very encouraged this past week to observe all the changes that have been implemented. The surgical instruments look much cleaner (each hospital received some brushes, rust remover and lubricants at the training sessions), most hospitals have discontinued using chlorine for disinfection (as recommended by WHO), staff seem to be more consistent in use of PPE and changes have been made to the flow of instruments to decrease cross contamination. These staff certainly feel better about their work and more empowered with the knowledge they have received and several hospital directors have reported decreasing surgical site infection rates.

Common meal we have enjoyed - Tilapia from Lake Victoria

At one group meal we ordered the "sampler platter" of chicken, lamb, mutton, tilapia, shrimp and beef samosas with french fries, banana slices, potato wedges and assorted veggies

Travel in rural Tanzania in the areas where we work is challenging, roads are rough particularly the highways that cross the country used by heavy trucks transporting items to/from landlocked countries to port cities. I was however, pleasantly surprised this week to travel on one highway in Kagera where improvements had been made and now allowed speeds of about 80 km/hr whereas last year it was around 40-50 km/hr.

Flowering Cassia Tree

In Kagera region there are huge banana plantations - bundles are transported from rural areas by bicycle to main roads where they will be loaded onto trucks

Grasshopper catching contraptions

Containers of fried grasshoppers sold in the market

Sampling fried grasshoppers

Taking a boat ride on Lake Victoria

Bismarck Rocks - famous landmark in Mwanza

Birds playing "king of the castle"

For the most part, we are healthy and in good spirits. The second translator we hired has been a big help and the driver we hired last week had a great command of English, which made travelling much more pleasant. We are now in Mwanza for the weekend. It is a beautiful city right on Lake Victoria and is centrally located between the two regions where we work.

On a further note we are moving ahead with plans for education and mentoring in SE Asia starting in Cambodia – ethics approval has been granted for the research portion of the project from Mount Royal University and we are now able to apply for approval in Cambodia. We also had the opportunity to connect to SPECT’s first Videoconference (Project Echo) with all the Tanzanian trainees from the 10 SS2020 hospitals. Christina had the opportunity to reconnect, hear their updates and concerns, and provide further support from her home in Canada. It was great to see our funders and a representative from the Ministry of Health attending the session as well. We’re hoping this will not only provide on-going support locally but also bring further support for SPECT’s work.

View of Lake Victoria from our hotel in Bukoba