Promoting Brain Health in Zambia – an innovative digital training program (The “Brain-Train” Project)
Partner organisation in partner country: Neurology Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Zambia (UNZA), School of Medicine, University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Lusaka, Zambia
Situation:
Zambia is a low-income country in southern Africa with a population of >18 million people. With only 12 neurologists, 2 neuropaediatricians, 12 neurosurgeons, and 15 psychiatrists, all based in the capital of Lusaka, the country faces a massive lack of diagnostic and treatment capacity for management and prevention of the rising burden of brain disorders, especially in rural areas.
Objectives:
Promoting brain health in Zambia by implementation and evaluation of a telementoring program to improve access to specialty care for patients affected by neurological, neuropaediatric, neurosurgical and psychiatric disorders, especially in rural areas, and to build local brain health capacity among primary care clinicians and within the communities.
Project output 1: A neurological/brain health ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) program will be designed, promoted and successfully implemented
Indicator 1: Number of patients treated via remote expert advice and number of primary care clinicians who regularly attend the ECHO® sessions and lectures
Project output 2: The neurological/brain health ECHO® program will be scientifically evaluated, and results will be disseminated.
Indicator 2: Scientific publications, policy briefs and a program manual will be delivered
Project ECHO® is a telementoring program, which is linking expert teams with primary care clinicians through web-based, videoconferencing technology with regular case-based webinars. It is already in use for several infectious diseases (e.g. HIV care in Zambia), and will now, for the first time, be used and tested to improve brain health in Africa. The innovative telementoring approach combines classical telemedicine delivering concrete advice for management of single patients, but at the same time is building capacity among primary care clinicians to improve care for neurological/brain disorders sustainably.
- Project activities comprise:
Design, promotion and implementation of a neurological/brain health ECHO® program: During each of the up to weekly case-based webinars the co-led Zambian/German expert team will provide neurological/brain health expert advice for up to 4 in- and outpatient cases presented by non-specialized Zambian primary care clinicians and will additionally deliver lectures on relevant topics. - Scientific evaluation and dissemination of the program: A mixed methods approach will be used including quantitative (tracking, questionnaires) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions) research methods, resulting in scientific peer-reviewed publications, policy briefs and a program manual.
Zambia, as many low-income countries, is facing a massive and rising burden of non-communicable as well as neurological and brain disorders while lacking specialized workforce, especially in rural areas. By leveraging innovative digital technologies in combination with already existing local infrastructures this approach has the potential for a low-cost, high-impact intervention to sustainably improve management and prevention of brain disorders in Zambia and similar low-resource settings, e.g. in sub-Saharan Africa.
For the first time, the ECHO® model will be used to promote brain health in Africa accompanied by a structured scientific evaluation. Major focus will be put on interdisciplinarity (brain health = neurology, paediatric neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry), sustainability, and scalability of the approach.
Further information here.
