When the team from the Children's Surgery Foundation, led by Prof. Dr. Martin Lacher, travels to Awassa again, you immediately feel that something new is being built here. Pediatric surgery has only recently been introduced in this city in southern Ethiopia, and the need is immense. While in Germany there are 140 to 250 people per doctor, in Ethiopia 36 million children share just six pediatric surgeons – all located in Addis Ababa.
The "Jimma Child" project addresses this exact issue: it trains doctors to become pediatric surgeons who will later train new specialists themselves. This concept is also being implemented in Awassa. The medical staff is highly motivated to use every opportunity to learn surgical techniques with the available resources. For Prof. Dr. Lacher and his colleagues, this means: getting hands-on, explaining, demonstrating – and practicing repeatedly.
The young Ethiopian doctors work under challenging conditions. Hygienic standards are significantly lower than in Germany, and the infrastructure is limited. However, impressive learning experiences emerge in the operating theaters: from abdominal and thoracic tumors, fractures, and soft tissue injuries to complex malformations, the aspiring pediatric surgeons treat a variety of clinical pictures – always accompanied by experienced specialists such as Senior Physician Dr. Peter Zimmermann from the Leipzig Children's Hospital, who stays on site for several weeks to impart his knowledge.
Privatdozent Dr. Jochen Hubertus, founder of the project, sums it up perfectly: "It is important to provide sustainable aid in such circumstances, where knowledge can be passed on. In this way, in addition to healing children, we can achieve something that truly helps – namely, the empowerment and further development of clinical staff in Jimma and Awassa."
Every day at the hospital thus becomes a blend of teaching and practical assistance. For the children, this means healing; for the local doctors, an opportunity to soon take on responsibility themselves; and for the team from Germany, an impressive experience of how medical knowledge can change lives far beyond borders.
