Providing multilingual support and advice to OPT IN (the Overseas Partnering and Training Initiative) of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust on their partnerships in Madagascar
Expert advice on the specific requirements of setting up and managing training and partnerships with healthcare providers in the developing world, ensuring that the needs of beneficiaries are taken into account.
Approach
Simone assisted the leaders of OPT IN with setting up and managing their partnership with the Ministry of Health and the University teaching hospital of Antananarivo in Madagascar. She acted as interpreter and advisor in their communication with the WHO (World Health Organisation) in Madagascar, explaining the subtler dimensions of communication in French to the UK partners, and ensuring that Malagasy partners were fully included in communication to establish a partnership and training programme based on their needs.
Outcomes
Following Simone’s input and advice, OPT IN delivered teaching for a specialist diploma in Rehabilitation Medicine for Malagasy doctors between 2011 and 2013. The teaching provided Malagasy doctors with much needed skills in Rehabilitation Medicine, which are still rare within the health system in Madagascar, leading to the establishment of Rehabilitation Medicine as a medical speciality and to the creation of the professional association AMPR-Mada (the Association of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine of Madagascar).
Download the article entitled Evaluating a global health partnership rehabilitation training programme in Madagascar, co-authored by Simone