Project aiming to improve access to head and neck surgical care in Kenya wins overseas development grant

The Department of Surgery’s André Isaac and Vincent Biron have been awarded a grant from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s new overseas development program for Innovating Otolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery in Western Kenya.

The Department of Surgery’s André Isaac and Vincent Biron have been awarded a grant of $65,000 from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s new overseas development program for Innovating Otolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery in Western Kenya. The project, which was one of only eight in Canada to be selected, aims to improve sustainable access to head and neck surgical care for thousands of people living in Kenya.

Under the department’s Office of Global Surgery (OGS), which helps improve health profession education and local capacity in underserved communities, the project is a partnership between the University of Alberta and the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, Kenya, which serves a population of more than 15 million.

One of only two public tertiary referral hospitals in Kenya, MTRH is lacking in personnel, training and infrastructure resources. The hospital has traditionally had to refer patients out of the region or leave them undertreated for many surgical procedures considered routine in Canada. 

After a short introductory course and some hands-on cases, local surgeons are quickly able to pick up and adapt newly learned endoscopic ear surgery skills, a massive step forward to decreasing reliance on expensive surgical microscopes. 

“Our goal is for MTRH to manage its own surgical oncology for head and neck cancer, advanced airway disease and surgery and advanced endoscopic ear disease within a few years,” said Isaac, a pediatric otolaryngologist, member of the Office of Global Surgery and one of the project leads.

Providing the MTRH surgeons and physicians with sustainable procedures and practices is a key part of the project. Isaac and Biron’s team worked to design solutions to the discipline’s heavy reliance on the kinds of advanced technology many developing countries may have only in limited quantities.

For example, the team will work towards replacing expensive microscopic ear surgery with the more affordable endoscopic ear surgery. Other priorities include a formalized airway course, improving pathology reporting and laying the groundwork for a residency training program.

The surgeons are now in the process of seeking volunteers—including an anesthesiologist, physician assistant and nurse practitioners—to help implement the project on the ground in Kenya.