Congolese connection: Revisiting the Democratic Republic of Congo as a King's global health volunteer

How did you first get involved with King’s Global Health Partnerships?

I’m currently studying medicine at Exeter University but was volunteering as a vaccinator at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic, as it’s my local NHS Trust. It was here I learned about King’s Global Health Partnerships. When I realised they had activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and particularly in Kongo Central, where my ancestral origin is, I was really intrigued to find out more.

So I signed up for the newsletter and when an opportunity came up to volunteer in Kongo Central, I absolutely went for it, as I’m interested in global health. And also as a medical student I thought any experience in medicine specifically outside of the UK can only be great for my learning.

What was your role with the King’s Kongo Central Partnership?

I volunteered for two weeks on a data project, part of a wider project to improve surgical care in the province. We were working with public health officials and doctors, presenting the importance of data collection, how to collect surgical data, and how it feeds into improving safe surgery. When I got there, I realised some of the allied health professionals, such as the nurses and the anaesthetic support workers had never used Excel. So in the short time we had, I also tried to give them a basic training in Excel, as well as explaining the importance of collecting data.

It tied in really well with the practical aspects of safe surgery within an operating theatre that they have learned on this project. They understood why there is the Safer Surgery Checklist and how the checklist fits in with data collection.

What did you gain from the experience as a volunteer?

I gained a lot more than I anticipated. I was born in the capital, Kinshasa and when I was three, we left. So most of my life has been in the West. I was curious to see what hospitals and the healthcare system are actually like there, and meet the people working in public health.

The team in Matadi were very welcoming and all the doctors I met were happy to talk to me about their career paths and their places of work. One of the directors of a local hospital in Matadi, invited us to visit his medical centre. Because it’s on the main road from Kinshasa which has a high incidence of road traffic collisions, they have to deal with a lot of trauma cases.

It was eye opening to see how much of a burden it is to the health care system and the local population. There were a lot of patients in the hospital who weren’t able to receive the kind of treatment they would receive in the UK. Despite the circumstances, there is so much potential in Matadi, if only there were more resources and knowledge available in the region.

I would recommend to anyone considering volunteering with the partnerships, to go for it! You’ll be surprised at how much you will learn! Also, my experience was that it was flexible enough to fit into my life as a medical student and mother.

What are the benefits of KGHP’s partnership model?

The partnership model was something that really drew me to KGHP. It didn’t seem to be one of those organisations where people come from the West and just deliver health care or training and then leave. When I was researching the organisation, I was really impressed to see how some of the health workers in Kongo Central who had been trained by the partnership, had then travelled to Burundi to deliver Primary Trauma Care (PTC) training to other health workers there. And this work is continuing – there is now a mentorship programme where people on the ground are training others. Not only can they take what they’ve learned and utilise it in their places of work, but they are also empowered to deliver training to other health workers in the region.

Can you tell us about KGHP’s recent work with CONDADA - the Congolese Doctors and Dentists Association in the UK?

KGHP recently hosted a mini-symposium for CONDADA, a network of people of Congolese heritage, working in science in the UK. I made the connection between KGHP and CONDADA as they weren’t aware of each other’s work. And then KGHP agreed to host this meeting to discuss health care and how it relates to Congolese people in the UK and Congo.

It was a great success and everyone wants more of these meetings. I hope there will be opportunities for further collaboration in the future, perhaps around research or community health projects. I can’t wait to see how this collaboration unfolds in the future!