Global Health Elective in Rwanda
I am just getting re-acclimated to life back here at Cornell, having returned from our department's global health division's first trip to Rwanda! We are so proud of the work we have done in India since 2013, when we started our bi-annual two-week Global Health Elective there. Our model — one that focuses on educating our resident and attending physicians on how to participate in meaningful global health work — is ready to be replicated, and we are thrilled that Rwanda is going to be the place.
Drs. Sheida Tabaie, Gunisha Kaur and I joined the American Society of Anesthesiology’s Global Humanitarian Outreach work there through a joint collaboration of the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society International Education Foundation (CASIEF) and spent two weeks in Kigali and Butare at four different hospitals working with local residents and attending anesthesiologists during the day while building relationships with future global health partners at night. We visited a refugee camp, cooperatives where women are earning vocational skills training, met with government leaders from the Ministry of Health, and spent a lot of time immersing ourselves in this country’s beautifully rich culture and complicated history!
We look forward to having Rwanda be another one of Cornell Anesthesiology’s global health division’s international partners!
EB