Institutional Partners Activities

Team members of the MGH Institute of Health Professions and the University of Transkei Faculty of Health Sciences Partnerships. Credit: Tembi Nonkela

Looking back over the activities of several of our health partnerships within the past year, there is much to celebrate as individual partnerships begin to implement exciting projects, including:

Clinical Support
Health professional exchanges that bring in specialty services and additional support to bridge staffing shortages.

- The Massachusetts Medical Society is piloting a guest physician program that will allow physicians to spend time in the Eastern Cape during 2007.

Education/Training
In-service training, lecturing, and mentoring to increase capacity and deliver quality health services.

- The Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions is working with the Walter Sisulu University School of Nursing to develop training programs.

- The Codman Square Health Center and the Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre have developed a LifeSkills curriculum that introduces students to the link between HIV/AIDS and gender inequities.

Information Technology and Data Management
Designing and implementing data capturing systems that will increase the reliability of data collected from health care facilities.

- This area will be a new focus for 2007.

Research
Promoting international research projects and supporting targeted research designed to improve service delivery.

- Harvard Medical School students conducted quality assurance research at health clinics run by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality.

- The Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Eastern Cape Department of Health presented research on the epidemic in the Eastern Cape at the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto.