Medical

Session Description: Widely acceptable in Middle Eastern countries, gender based violence (GBV) in the region is far from being well documented. Inherent socio-cultural norms in most settings, contribute to eclectic tolerance of GBV, a fatalistic attitude and helplessness among victims. Women, adolescents and other vulnerable population groups, especially internally displaced people (IDP) and refu...

Eighty percent of the cases of cervical cancer are found in poorly developed countries. There is not adequate screening available to diagnose precancerous lesions and treat them. Many lives can be saved using methods that do not rely highly on technology advanced training. This session will describe the scope of the problem, the tools available for diagnosis and treatment and the ones that would b...

Every year 3.6 million girls in Africa and the Middle East undergo a procedure in which their external genitalia is cut and sometimes sewn. This cultural practice can lead to numerous complications throughout a female’s life, especially during childbirth. This session will focus on the care of women who have experienced female genital cutting, while also discussing cultural attitudes and eradicati...

Malaria has been a health threat for hundreds of years, yet continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Using case presentations, and drawing from the speaker’s international experience, this workshop will explore what’s new in malaria diagnosis and treatment and consider the emotional, mental, social and cultural as well as medical imp...

This session will cover the topic of sourcing medicines for missions. We will discussthe following: counterfeit medication, substandard medication, risks and benefits of obtaining medication in the united states and transporting it overseas versus obtaining the medication in developing nations, how to source medications that will be used in developing nations.

A woman in the United States often has 15 visits to her healthcare provider and as many laboratory evaluations during the course of her pregnancy. Is this a realistic model of care in the developing world? This session will discuss the essential components of antenatal care that can be practically delivered in low and middle-income countries, with the goal of reducing maternal and perinatal morbid...

The principles of abdominal surgery are not different in Africa, but the presentation, available diagnostic tools and frequency of certain etiologies is significantly different. The approach and therapy the more common causes of the acute abdomen will be the primary diseases discussed.

This is a primer of how to get started in palliative care and can be used to teach others as well. There is also a companion Palliative Care Toolkit Trainers Manual available for use with medical missions physician assistants, doctors, and nurses.. Both documents are available in a number of languages.

Chronic hepatitis B and C cause cirrhosis and liver cancer, and are major causes of death throughout sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Advances in the diagnosis and management of these chronic viral infections are beginning to impact patient outcomes in low and middle income countries. In this session current hepatitis global guidelines will be discussed, as well as practical issues and new solutions f...

This session will describe a variety of opportunities to reach out internationally through educating healthcare professionals desiring advanced skills and knowledge. This will include not only specialty specific opportunities, but those related to faculty development, bioethics, advanced life support training, and other topics.

Overview and update of Tuberculosis in global health, augmented with cases from around the world.

of the 6.3 million children under the age of five who died in 2013, 44% (2.761 million) were neonates (defined as age 0-28 days). Over the past decade, neonatal mortality decreased at an annual rate of 2.9% compared to 4.9% in children aged 1-59 months. This smaller reduction in under-five mortality (U5M) among neonates is a significant contributor to the worldwide failure to achieve Millennium De...

Why is HIV/AIDS still a concern on the mission field? HIV prevalence and AIDS death rates have declined in many countries, yet HIV/AIDS continues to have tremendous medical, emotional, economic and social challenges. Using case presentations, this workshop will explore HIV/AIDS treatment and care drawing from the speaker’s experience in Africa.

Contemporary criticism by global health experts of much of short term medical missions activity (Dead Aid, When Helping Hurts) is valid. We have a tendency to justify use of US diagnostic and treatment guidelines in low income countries as equitable while demonstrably unreasonable and harmful. Careful consideration of the whole care process from care access to care follow-up including all costs in...

There is little in the medical literature about applying the basic tenets of medical ethics in resource limited situations common in mission hospitals. For example, healthcare professionals are taught not to attempt medical or surgical interventions they have not be trained to do. That prohibition will be quickly violated when you are the only option for the patient. With real life stories and pra...

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa not only challenged governments, NGOs, and health systems, but had ripple effects including the closure of hospitals and clinics and loss of health care workers. Over the past year, training has taken place, hospitals have reopened, and survivors are being treated. However, Liberia's Medical College remains closed (as of June 2015), and many other areas are st...

This talk will review common parasitic diseases in the tropics. The classification, presentation and basic treatment of these syndromes will be discussed in a case-based format. Visual recognition of findings will be part of this interactive session, using an audience response system. We will focus mostly on classic skin, abdominal, and pulmonary syndromes. We will also discuss some beneficial eff...

Effective short-term healthcare missions requires actions that facilitate long-term change in the local setting - in healthcare services, in combating poverty, and in addressing spiritual needs. Unprepared short-term teams often do more damage than good. This presentation will provide strategies and tactics to properly prepare a short-term healthcare team and to build a relationship with a nationa...

Faith-based medical ministries have substantial opportunities to conduct biomedical research that positively impacts the communities they serve. In addition, biomedical research can help mission organizations achieve their strategic goals. In this session missional, ethical, and practical aspects of research in faith-based, developing-world settings will be discussed.

During the main GMHC conference 2015 PRIME International's CEO, Prof Richard Vincent, presented this breakout session on ‘Compassion: Foundation for Whole Person Care’. Scientific and technical advances may be seen as the key to best medical practice, but to focus only on biological processes is to ignore other powerful influences on the causes and treatment of illness. A solely mechanistic ap...

While weaving into his presentation personal experiences from both his time serving in Liberia and his own experience with Ebola, Dr. Sacra will discuss ways in which the response to the Ebola crisis sometimes has unintended consequences. We’ve observed cultural clashes sometimes leading to violence, both in cities and in rural areas, as well as impacts on the health system as a whole. Some key in...

The power of story for the medical missionary God called us, we listened, and we took small steps toward obedience. Then when the Ebola tragedy struck, we knew God would be faithful and use it for His glory. Followed by Q&A time.

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is staggering and unimaginable in terms of magnitude of cases and overall mortality. Corporately, the international humanitarian community could not have anticipated the extent of this unparalleled outbreak, and coordinated global efforts have been significantly outpaced by exponential growth of this deadly disease. Traditional treatment methods of patient isolati...

The 2014 Ebola outbreak has already killed more than 4000 people, and the end is not clearly in sight. During this session, we will put Ebola into context of other health problems in Africa and then review the presentations, diagnosis, management, and prevention of this devastating illness. We will also explore ways that we can get involved in battling Ebola, whether near to or far from West Afric...

ELWA Hospital is a small SIM mission hospital near Monrovia, Liberia. When did we first hear about the impending threat of Ebola? What did we do? How did we prepare? What happened? Come and hear the story of Ebola coming to ELWA.