[Washington, DC - September 2, 2011]  HVO is pleased to announce the establishment of an anesthesia program at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) is a one-thousand bed hospital with a patient population of approximately 1,300. QECH is the main government hospital in Blantyre.

The focus of the program is to provide teaching and training to participants in the Anesthesia Clinical Officer (ACO) program and ACO graduates at QECH. Volunteers will participate in small group workshops, provide hands on/scenario teaching through the use of QECH's simulation center, provide training to senior ACOs interested in upgrading their skills and eventually expand teaching/training to clinical ACOs throughout district hospitals around the country.

Volunteers should be active or retired physicians who are board eligible/certified in anesthesia. Final year residents traveling without a preceptor will be considered for an assignment on a case by case basis. Volunteers will be recruited for assignments that are two - four weeks in length.

A private, nonprofit organization, HVO was founded in 1986 to improve global health through education of local health care providers. In 25 years of service, HVO's training has transformed lives - of the health care providers, their colleagues and patients, and of the HVO volunteers themselves.  HVO designs and implements clinical and didactic education programs in child health, primary care, trauma and rehabilitation, essential surgical care, oral health, blood disorders and cancer, infectious disease, nursing education and wound management. In more than 25 resource-poor countries, HVO volunteers train, mentor and provide critical professional support to health care providers who care for the neediest populations in the most difficult of circumstances. For more information, visit the HVO website.

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