The COOL project - COSECSA Oxford Orthopaedic Link – a multi-country partnership programme between the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) at the University of Oxford and the College of Surgeons of East Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA), has been extended until 2016.
Originally a three-year project (2012–2015), COOL combines research and training in primary trauma care and musculoskeletal impairment across the ten sub-Saharan countries in the COSECSA region: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The project aims to meet the critical need for more health workers trained in treating serious injury and musculoskeletal impairment.
Delivering on its mission, COOL continues to train doctors in the region in primary trauma care and orthopaedic surgery. This July, NDORMS researcher, Hemant Pandit led a one-week orthopaedic course at the CURE Ethiopia Children's Hospital and Black Lion Hospital, bringing together an international faculty team of surgeons, including Roger Gundle, Chris Dodd, Adrian Taylor and Max Gibbons from the NOC. The course was attended by 33 surgeons from across East and Central Africa.
COOL project manager, Grace Le, said of the training: ‘The COOL orthopaedic courses have been a real eye-opener for course faculty and trainees alike. The expertise shared through the teaching, tips and tricks, and hands-on workshops has been really appreciated, and there is much interest in supporting more orthopaedic training in the region, so we are delighted that the COOL project has been extended for another year.’
If you’d like to find out more about COOL, please visit the project page.
To read about how COOL is having a real impact both in Africa and the UK, read Blueprint’s October issue.