Health Care Services

Cardiac diseases are a major health concern and many of the patients in a general practitioner’s (GPs) office have heart conditions. Hand-held ultrasound device (HUD) can improve the GP’s diagnostic possibilities. We want to evaluate if a training program with focus on practical ultrasound skills can help the GP’s to correctly diagnose certain heart conditions by using HUD. If successful, unnecessary referrals could be avoided and patients in need of specialist care would avoid delay in diagnosis and treatment.

In the world today, there are five billion people who don’t have the access to timely, safe, and affordable surgery. Most of these people lives where there is a shortage of health personnel in general. To give a picture of the shortage of surgical personnel; in the poorest but also the most populated part of the world like East Africa you can find only 0,53 surgeons per 100.000 population.

By Iril Naustdal, Master Student in Global Health