Building Surgical Capacity in Zimbabwe Resurge international

ReSurge provides advanced surgical training for medical professionals in developing countries to increase the accessibility of safe surgical care and to help address local surgical workforce challenges. This week, three ReSurge visiting educators taught complex cleft care and other craniofacial procedures at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare.

All photos, including this selfie, are by ReSurge volunteer Dr. Deborah Rusy.

ReSurge board member Dr. Richard Redett and Dr. Damon Cooney, both plastic surgeons and professors at the John Hopkins School of Medicine, and Dr. Deborah Rusy, anesthesiologist and faculty at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, provided hands-on training to local doctors and residents who are among the first participants in Zimbabwe’s plastic surgery program. This is ReSurge’s third time teaching at the University of Zimbabwe and our first in cleft and craniofacial training in Harare.

By providing this training, local surgeons will soon be able to treat a wider range of patients, including those with bilateral clefts, fistulas, wide clefts and other complex cases.

In 2015, Dr. Godfrey Ignatius Muguti, University of Zimbabwe’s department of surgery professorial chair and founder of the plastic surgery program, partnered with ReSurge to link some of the world’s leading experts as visiting educators with his young surgeons. “You will be pleased to know that the first two residents from our plastic surgery training program passed their final FCS (plastic surgery) examinations of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSESCA) in December,” said Dr. Muguti. “The continued visits from ReSurge will help these young plastic surgeons consolidate their skills while at the same time supporting the training of more residents in our young program.”

“The continued visits from ReSurge will help these young plastic surgeons consolidate their skills while at the same time supporting the training of more residents in our young program," said Dr. Muguti.

ReSurge is grateful to Dr. Muguti for this opportunity to partner with him to build surgical capacity in Zimbabwe, currently a country of 14 million people and only four plastic surgeons. We are also thankful to our surgical volunteers Drs. Cooney, Redett and Rusy –and to Airlink and South African Airways, which donated the airfares for our visiting educators.

Airlink is a 24/7 disaster and humanitarian response organization that links airlines, like South African Airways, with vetted nonprofits. Because of Airlink’s work and South African Airways donation, ReSurge will be able to send more faculty to train the next generation of reconstructive plastic surgeons.

Training and empowering the next generation of humanitarian reconstructive surgical teams enables year-round access for exponentially more patients in need and is the most efficient and cost- effective way to deliver care.
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Sara Anderson
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Deborah Rusy

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