Supporting safer hospital care in rural Congo
Professor Mike English has returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a Christ Church Research Grant enabled him to work with local clinicians to improve the safety of maternity and newborn care in one of the country’s most remote hospitals.
During his visit to Vanga Evangelical Hospital, Professor English worked alongside Dr Mudji E'kitiak and the wider hospital team to develop practical quality improvement initiatives, deliver specialist training for healthcare professionals, and support the next generation of Congolese doctors and nurses. The collaboration builds on Dr E'kitiak’s visit to Oxford earlier this year, also supported by Christ Church.
Professor English said: ‘It’s inspiring to see the enthusiasm of staff and students, led by Dr Mudji, to learn improvement techniques and rapidly implement their ideas to improve care in Vanga Hospital despite the huge resource challenges they face on a daily basis.’
Located around 500 kilometres from Kinshasa, Vanga Hospital serves a predominantly rural population of around 350,000 people. Despite having more than 400 inpatient beds, it has only six permanent doctors and acts as the referral centre for 50 surrounding health centres across the Bandundu region.
With no tarmacked roads in the area, women experiencing pregnancy complications often arrive late and require emergency treatment to save both their own lives and those of their babies. Improving the safety and effectiveness of that care is the central aim of the ongoing project.
As part of the visit, Professor English led an expert workshop for senior nurses, doctors and allied health professionals on how to design and deliver healthcare improvement projects. He also ran separate training sessions for Congolese medical and nursing students based at Vanga Hospital.
Beyond maternity care, Vanga Hospital provides essential surgical, medical, paediatric and obstetric services for the wider region. It treats patients with trauma and other surgical emergencies, severe infectious diseases including malaria and typhoid, and more complex conditions such as diabetes and HIV that cannot usually be managed in local primary care facilities.
The Christ Church Research Grant has also supported Dr E'kitiak’s visit to Oxford to plan the project and will enable him and a Congolese colleague to return later this year for further training. During their visit, they will present their work in Vanga to students and early-career researchers at Christ Church, strengthening the partnership between Oxford and healthcare professionals in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mike English is Professor of International Child Health at the Nuffield Department of Medicine and a Senior Associate Research Fellow at Christ Church. To learn more about his research, view his profile on the Christ Church site and his Nuffield Department of Medicine page.
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