Sickle cell disease: training doctors to deliver decentralised care
01/26/2018
Between 6 and 18 November last year, 26 doctors from 6 African countries completed the training required to obtain the University Diploma in Sickle Cell Disease from The Sickle Cell Disease Research Centre (CRLD) in Bamako, Mali. The qualification-based course was introduced in 2014 to raise awareness of this disease among doctors, and provide them with the training they need to improve patient care in regions where resources and care personnel are scarce or non-existent.
Drissa Coulibaly is a doctor in Banamba, a town around three hours by road from Bamako. He is one of the most recent trainees to leave the Sickle Cell Disease Research and Treatment Centre, having successfully completed the University Diploma in Sickle Cell Disease, a course he was highly motivated to take. “We see patients with sickle cell disease every day”, he explains. “But we don’t really know enough about this disease ourselves. This course helps us to care better for our patients locally, because without that ability, they would have to make the trip to Bamako. It’s a long way, and it’s expensive for them”. By training doctors, this diploma course responds directly to the aim of decentralising care for this disease, which can affect 15% of the population in some regions.
The University Diploma in Sickle Cell Disease course includes theory and practical elements involving case studies and round table discussion sessions. The training staff are all lecturers and researchers specialising in the disease, and based at universities in France, Mali and the West African subregion. Awarded by the Bamako Faculty of Medicine, the diploma course includes eleven modules on sickle cell disease, including one that specifically addresses patient pain management and relief. “That’s very important, because people always overlook the pain. But it’s pain that kills our patients, without us actually realising it…”, explains Drissa Coulibaly.
The 26 trainees for this fourth course intake came from six different African countries: Mali, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal. They included 15 general practitioners, 4 paediatricians, 1 gynaecologist and obstetrician, 1 haematologist, 1 specialist in infectious diseases and 4 interns. The Government of Monaco Department of International Cooperation provides the funding to cover the organisational costs of this training course, while the Foundation funds the participation of doctors from neighbouring countries as part of the programmes it runs in Burkina, Cameroon and the DRC.
Unique in Africa, The Sickle Cell Disease Research Centre is a leading international institution, and the only centre of this size in sub-Saharan Africa to combine treatment, training and research into this genetic disease.
The Pierre Fabre Foundation was instrumental in creating the Centre in 2010 in partnership with the Malian government, since when it has continued to provide technical and financial support. The current cooperation agreement (2017-2020) covers mainly the funding required to provide posts for doctors and healthcare technicians, deliver decentralised care in Kayes and Sikasso, and supply drugs and vaccines. Lastly, a far-reaching project to digitalise cohort data is now underway supported by a Foundation project manager, who has been working within the CRLD since January this year.
The CRLD currently monitors more than 9,000 patients using a holistic patient care system that extends from initial screening to consultations and personalised follow-up, care delivery and the provision of drugs right through to hospitalisation in the event of crisis.
