Botswana

The CHOP Global Health Center partners with the Botswana-UPenn Partnership and the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Health, in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Botswana (UB). The Department hosts third- and fifth-year medical students from UB’s five-year medical school program and is home to UB’s four-year Pediatric Residency training program, which has ~20-25 residents and chief residents. UB’s pediatric residents train in Botswana and most also do 4-6 months of training in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

The CHOP Global Health rotation in Botswana offers a challenging and exciting four-week inpatient pediatric experience for pediatric residents – either in general pediatrics or neonatology, along with the option of some exposure to pediatric subspeciality outpatient clinics. Successful applicants will work side by side with local healthcare professionals and benefit from mentorship from UB residents and faculty and CHOP’s Pincus Global Health Fellow. Personal learning and teaching opportunities along with interesting clinical cases abound. There are also numerous excellent opportunities to teach third and fifth year UB medical students while learning from experienced residents and attending clinicians. 

This dynamic rotation is based at Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital (SKMTH) and, depending on the specifics of your rotation, may also include some time at Botswana's largest healthcare facility, Princess Marina Hospital (PMH), both in the capital city of Gaborone. Daily duties include the clinical care of patients (Monday - Friday) with teaching of third- and fifth-year medical students. There are no overnight duties. 

While in Botswana, you may be offered the opportunity to present a relevant topic at the daily academic morning report. There are tremendous opportunities to learn, see, teach, and make a difference and to be a part of a talented team in Botswana who are striving to improve the health of children across the country. 

Dominican Republic 

In the Dominican Republic (DR), the CHOP Global Health Center partners with Centro de Salud Divina Providencia (CSDP) in Consuelo, Clínica de Familia La Romana (CFLR) in La Romana, and Robert Reid Cabral Children’s Hospital in Santo Domingo. Residents rotating in the DR spend time at all three sites during their 4-week rotation, with CSDP serving as the primary clinical location. In 2009, CSDP and CHOP collaborated to launch the Niños  Primeros en Salud (NPS) program, which is an outpatient pediatrics program serving children aged 0-5 years living in at-risk neighborhoods (barrios) in the community of Consuelo. Residents work with two local pediatricians and 1-2 CHOP Pincus global health fellows to provide comprehensive primary care, both sick and well visits, and spend several afternoons a week doing home visits with the expert NPS community nurse and health promoters.  

At Clínica de Familia La Romana, residents accompany local pediatric colleagues as they care for infants exposed to HIV as well as children and adolescents living with HIV.  CHOP Pincus global health fellows spend at least one day per week at CFLR and are paired with residents on those days.  

Robert Reid Cabral (RRC) Children’s Hospital is the largest pediatric hospital in the DR, located in the capital city of Santo Domingo. Residents may spend up to one week here during their rotation, and there may be opportunities to tailor this week to each resident’s interests, depending on local subspecialist availability. Available subspecialties include Emergency Medicine, Hematology-Oncology, Infectious Diseases, Neonatology, Neurology, Pediatric Intensive Care, and Pulmonology, among others.   

To be eligible to rotate in the DR, residents must speak Spanish at least at an intermediate level. A language assessment may be required prior to final approval of the rotation.  

Ghana 

CHOP residents also have the opportunity to complete an elective rotation at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra, Ghana. KBTH was established in 1923 and is affiliated with the University of Ghana’s Medical School. KBTH is the third-largest hospital in Africa and Ghana's leading national referral center. KBTH has more than 2000 beds and sees approximately 1500 patients per day across 21 clinical and diagnostic departments, including child health, anesthesia, dentistry, obstetrics and gynecology, pathology, radiology, and surgery.  

KBTH’s Department of Child Health has 230 beds in the general wards, 50 cots and incubators, and a PICU with six ventilator beds and 14 high-dependency unit beds. The department has 45 pediatric specialists and 41 residents in training. Over 70 medical and house officers also work there. On average, the department sees about 10,000 children under age 14 years in the outpatient and emergency departments each year. 

Only residents who have participated in a prior global health experience (either in medical school or during residency) are eligible for this rotation.