The Global Healthcare Conference finished strongly in Africa last week. Attendees from all over the continent joined together to learn and share from each other as they discussed common challenges encountered in running mission hospitals.
The annual conference began in 2012 and is a collaborative effort of Loma Linda University Health, Adventist Health International and the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists department of health ministries. It is held every other year at Loma Linda, while in the alternating years it takes place at different sites around the world. Two years ago, it took place in the Dominican Republic.
For 2015, the Global Healthcare Conference took place at two locations in Africa.
The first session, held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), from Aug. 28-31, had nearly 110 attendees participating throughout the event.
During the second session, Sept. 2-5, attendees from the surrounding areas formed a cohesive group in Lusaka, Zambia. With nearly 100 attendees each day, the conference proved to be a success with groups from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and many more locations.
The focus this year was developing infrastructure to support and sustain healthy hospitals. A major theme was collaboration between hospitals, dealing with topics such as governance and strategies for quality and financial improvement.
“By working together, we can improve the way health care is administered at mission hospitals throughout the world,” says Richard Hart, MD, DrPH, president of Loma Linda University Health and Adventist Health International. “At Loma Linda we have a commitment to improving global health through mission service and outreach.”
Through interactive sessions at the two conferences in Africa, hospital personnel experienced collective learning and development opportunities for creating practical plans to be strategically applied at each institution represented.
Peter Landless, MB, Bch, MMed, director of the health ministries department at the General Conference, shared his opinion this year after participating as a speaker at both the Abidjan and Lusaka conferences.
He said, “This conference went extremely well and has been a wonderful opportunity to share information between such dedicated teams of health workers.
“It is the beginning of what I hope to be many opportunities for General Conference health ministries, Adventist Health International and Loma Linda University Health to continue to work together.”