Using participatory action research to empower district hospital staff to deliver quality-assured essential surgery to rural populations in Malawi, Zambia, and Tanzania.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In 2017 the SURG-Africa project set out to institute a surgical, obstetric, trauma and anesthesia (SOTA) care capacity-building intervention focused on non-specialist providers at district hospitals in Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania. The aim was to scale up quality-assured SOTA care for rural populations. This paper reports the process of developing the intervention and our experience of initial implementation, using a participatory approach.

Methods

Participatory Action Research workshops were held in the 3 countries in July-October 2017 and in October 2018-July 2019, involving representatives of key local stakeholder groups: district hospital (DH) surgical teams and administrators, referral hospital SOTA specialists, professional associations and local authorities.

SUBMITTER: Pittalis C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10536269 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature