Our name and logo have changed....
But not by much. We are still who we always were, legally we are registered as Upasuaji International, but we have officially decided to change our name so that our name better reflects who we are and what we are doing internationally rather than specifically in Africa. This site will remain open for the time being but in the future we will be using www.upasuaji.com exclusively
The guiding philosophy behind Upasuaji Africa is that surgical excellence is attainable in East Africa.
Our objective is to be on the leading edge of surgical excellence. There is a long way to go in reaching this goal. A gap in surgical services exists for a myriad of reasons including, but not always, due to a lack of education, poorly equipped operating theatres, poor pay for surgeons and medical professionals across all specialties and services, a patient population unable to pay for care, and difficulty in access for patients in rural areas.
THE PROBLEM-
In East Africa 80% of the population live in rural areas while the majority of surgical specialists are in urban centres.
East African countries fall far behind the WHO standards for recommended number of surgical specialists to meet a population's needs. In addition, the majority of people who require surgical services, or medical services of any kind, are in rural areas. This means it is difficult, or even impossible, for the majority of patients to obtain surgical care. The treatment available for patients in rural areas is limited and often substandard.
This situation has resulted in a high mortality rate, helpful but non-sustainable foreign programs, overworked and burned out medical professionals.
WHAT UPASUAJI IS DOING-
Upasuaji Africa is partnering with East African medical professionals working in both rural and urban centres. We are developing surgical skills for students and surgeons, importing technology and surgical equipment needed by the local surgeons to benefit their patient population. We are collaborating with international surgical teams and providers to improve the surgical service delivery in East Africa and economically empower the local surgeons.
In addition our patient advocacy program works with the most severe surgical cases who have either been unable to obtain treatment or are in need of extensive surgery.
