ASGE members serving as ambassadors trained 10 physicians from Egypt, Nigeria, the Republic of Sudan and Kenya in basic and advanced procedures that were previously unavailable to the majority of the patient populations, according to the release. The program was proposed by ASGE President Jacques Van Dam, MD, PhD, FASGE, and was made possible through the support of PENTAX Medical Company and through donations from AstraZeneca Foundation and US Endoscopy.
“We developed this program because easy access to advanced gastrointestinal care does not exist in developing countries. ASGE Ambassadors brought their endoscopic and teaching skills to physicians in these countries so that patients who need basic or advanced endoscopy will have access to procedures that will help them and may ultimately save their lives,” Dr. Van Dam said in the release.
The ASGE Ambassador Program was held at the Cairo Training Center, located within the Theodor Bilharz Research Institute and is accredited by the World Gastroenterology Organisation. The week-long program covered numerous topics related to upper GI bleeding — one of the most common GI afflictions facing developing nations in Africa today, according to the release. The program also consisted of didactic sessions and hands-on instruction with the ASGE physicians and their trainees treating patients in need of procedures previously not commonly performed in some developing nations.
A follow-up program was conducted in late March to further educate and evaluate the progress of the newly trained physicians and to assess the impact of the program, according to the release. Future missions are currently being planned for other countries.
Read the release on the ASGE Ambassador Program (pdf).
