What We Do
Simba Health focusses on access to specialized health care for all. Click on the icons below.
EQUIPMENT
It all started when…
Every Hospital needs proper equipment to deliver a certain standard of care. It varies from basic equipment like beds, backup generators, (quite important in Africa), diagnostic equipment (laboratory, X-ray), to specialized surgical and anesthesia equipment. Availability of some equipment is crucial for the Hospitals, but opportunities to obtain them locally, are limited. Simbahealth tries to meet that need. Through this tailored approach, we try to prevent sending unneccesary equipment, but ‘ready to use’ items.
COLLABORATION
Hand in hand…
In collaboration with local Hospital management and staff we have built a bridge to strengthen and provide affordable specialist surgical care for the people in the Region. Through the longstanding relationship we have established a strong partnership with physiotherapists, doctors and Hospital management. Pre-selection of patients is done by the Hospital staff in close co-operation with Simbahealth. Volunteer surgical team visits are then organized twice a year for surgeries.
TEACHING
Learning from…
The main Hospital we have been visiting is a Faith-based District Hospital with 320 beds in Sengerema, Tanzania. It is a training Facility for doctors and nurses and connected to University Hospital Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza. The Hospital provided an environment, where teaching is part of daily practise. Therefore the specialist team visits form an excellent addition to the existing posibilities. Teaching of surgical and anesthesia procedures is done on the job, but we also try to respond to specific teaching requests by bringing specialists with the needed expertise. It can therefore be organizational, ICT, technique, physiotherapy or any given request that can be an addition to the Health care in the Hospital.
SURGERY
Life changing procedures…
According to the WHO, 5 billion people lack access to safe surgical and anesthesia care.Mortality and morbidity from common conditions requiring surgery have increased in the poorest regions of the world. At the same time, the development of safe, essential, life-saving surgical and anesthetic care in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) has stagnated or declined. Even with limited data, conservative estimates suggest that surgical conditions account for 15% of the total global burden of disease and 25 million disability-adjusted life years.
An important group are children with visible deformities. They can be either congenital (clubfeet) or leg deformities. Furthermore because of neglected trauma. These children do not have a chance to go to school. Another important group is injuries, which is an increasingly significant health problem throughout the world. Every day, 16000 people die from injuries, and for every person who dies, several thousand more are injured, many of them with permanent sequelae (WHO, guidelines for essential traumacare). The ability of individuals to return to work may be compromised and they may thus become a burden on their families and communities (WHO).
In our experience people living in rural Tanzania often receive substandard care, resulting in deterioration in socioeconomic status which has an abundant effect on these individuals. We believe that proper treatment of extremity fractures will prevent disabilities and thereby reduce the burden of this problem.
