Team up to build sustainable haemophilia care
Building on the success of the first project in Cambodia, which provided training for healthcare professionals in five regions, the second Cambodia project continued strengthening haemophilia care. 2019 started with a visit of expert volunteers from the UK to Cambodia.
Continuing to exchange expertise
Back in 2018, five healthcare professionals from the National Pediatric Hospital in Phnom Penh and Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap received in-depth, specialised training at Nottingham University Hospital in the UK. As a result of this partnership, in early 2019 a group of three expert volunteers – a doctor, a nurse and a physiotherapist – from Nottingham University Hospital visited the hospitals in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
Building a sustainable care structure
These visits had a clear purpose. It was for the Cambodian team to continue learning about how to build strong care referral centres and continue to cascade this acquired knowledge to regional hospitals and people with haemophilia.
Establishing multidisciplinary care teams and building a sustainable care structure has been a clear focus.
Through continuous dialogue, the Cambodian project team managed to achieve an important sustainable solution that will reach beyond the duration of the project itself. This achievement was that, in 2019, the hospital management in Phnom Penh agreed to purchasing reagents which will allow continuity of diagnosis for Von Willebrand disease among other bleeding disorders.
Being able to learn from the UK team has been a blessing and we keep on sharing the knowledge to succeed in building sustainable haemophilia care in Cambodia.
Game-changing partnerships
The involvement of expert volunteers was game-changing in this project. While dedicating their knowledge and expertise to improving care, the better practice sharing this has brought will have a long-term impact on haemophilia care in Cambodia.
Above all, the strong partnership between the patient organisation, doctors and laboratory technicians has shown how teaming up enables reaching out to more and more people with bleeding disorders. In this way, the impact was truly maximised.
