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News Briefs Online The Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development Vol. II ~ No. 5 ~ Sept/Oct 2001 |
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Higher Education Partnership Promises Far-reaching Effects on Children's Health in Laos Case Western Reserve University and the National University of Laos Plan to Quadruple the Number of Lao Pediatricians in 4 Years Until very recently, Laos had a grand total of seven pediatricians to serve a population of approximately 5.4 million, 2.5 million of whom are children. Not surprisingly, UNICEF reports that the infant mortality rate in Laos is 93 for every 1,000 live births. The under-five mortality rate is 111 per 1,000 children. However, because of an Association Liaison Office/USAID institutional higher education development partnership between Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and the National University of Laos, four new doctors joined the ranks of pediatricians in Laos this year. Seventeen more are expected to be fully trained by 2004, thus quadrupling the number of pediatricians in the country in only four years. The new pediatricians' training is designed to meet the specific health needs of Lao children while conforming to international standards. Awarded in 1999, the $100,000 ALO grant has been matched by $396,893 to help develop this program, which is the first full-time post-graduate medical education curriculum in Laos. Volunteer faculty have contributed tremendously with the training: so far, the partners have hosted 21 volunteer faculty visits from eight institutions in Thailand, Canada, Australia, and the U.S. The partners also are evaluating this low-cost, in-country, volunteer-assisted model of advanced training for possible application to other developing countries. In fact, they are already planning a similar training program in internal medicine in Laos, to be launched in March 2002. In addition to clinical training, the residents pursue research projects and take an annual month-long course in public and community health. As they graduate, the new pediatricians remain closely tied to their communities. For example, two of the newly-trained doctors have returned to their home provinces, where they head the pediatric wards in their provincial hospitals. The other two have remained in the capital, Vientiane, and are now active members of the teaching faculty. For more information about this and other ALO programs, please see our web site at http://www.aascu.org/alo. For more UNICEF statistics on children's health in Laos, see http://www.unicef.org/statis/Country_1Page95.html |