DOCTORS from Broomfield Hospital helping to teach medical staff at a Zambian hospital how to fight malaria, HIV and tropical diseases have been asked to roll the project out across the country.
The 'Lusaka Link – Out to Africa' project was originally set up by consultant surgeon Tom Browne three years ago to help benefit the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Zambia's capital city.
The project not only aims to reduce the HIV and malaria rates in the country, ranked 182 out of 191 countries in the World Health Organisation's grading of the earth's health systems, but also to teach the staff how to recognise and treat pain effectively.
It is hoped UTH can become a centre of excellence.
Julie Godfrey, who has worked at Broomfield Hospital for 20 years and is currently an intensive care sister, helped set up the Pain Management Programme with her colleague, anaesthetist Dr Niven Akotia.
Julie, 38, said: "We're out there for two weeks, but it's an intensive two-day training programme.
"We do it every three months. We teach them how to recognise pain, treat and manage it safely with the treatment they have – we've had to start from scratch. We have trained about 250 people and every time we go we add around 50 more.
"Culturally, they believe that you should be strong enough to deal with the pain that you suffer.
"One thing we do is to try and break down the barriers; we teach that paracetamol and brufen can be used.
"They have a big fear of morphine and opiates – they believe people will die, but it is one of the safest drugs if you know how to use it."
Thanks to the pain management team's intervention, use of pain relief is up by three per cent.
"People aren't scared of going to the hospital now," added Miss Godfrey.
"The patients are getting better because they do not have to stay as long – and they're not in pain. Hopefully, it will become a national programme to the point where pain management will become an integral part of care."
The doctors on the programme take annual leave in order to travel to Zambia and use their own funds while staying in the country – it costs around £3,000 per two week trip for Miss Godfrey and Dr Akotia, a total of £9,000 a year for the pain management programme alone.
To help fund this work, the group held a free fun day in August to bring staff, patients and visitors together and had entertainment from a bouncy castle to a bungee run, classic cars and even Zambian craft stalls.
The hospital made over £2,000 in donations.
