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UK’s Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust goes into partnership with Zim hospital

A maternity team is set to support communities in Zimbabwe through an educational exchange programme.
LONDON: The Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust will enter a formal health partnership with the Luisa Guidotti Hospital in Mukoto, Zimbabwe.
The initiative was inspired by Mary Mutizwa, a healthcare professional who left Zimbabwe to join the Stoke Mandeville Hospital’s maternity team.
The UK Zimbabwe Health Partnerships Pilot programme, established by Global Health Partnerships and funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, aims to improve maternal and neonatal care in Zimbabwe by reducing mortality rates.
The Trust’s team will collaborate with local health professionals to provide a combination of in-person and virtual training sessions.
These sessions will cover life-saving skills, including emergency obstetric care and neonatal resuscitation.
The ‘train the trainer’ approach will ensure that the local teams can roll out the training across the entire workforce involved in maternal and neonatal care, ensuring sustainability and self-sufficiency.
Michelle East, the Trust’s director of midwifery, will travel to Zimbabwe with Mary to attend the official launch of the programme.
They will also spend time with the team at the Luisa Guidotti Hospital to plan programme activity for the rest of the year.
This initial visit will be followed by another in April 2025 when three midwives from the Trust will return to Zimbabwe to deliver workshops to approximately 80 midwives and nurses from across the region.
Michelle East said: “We are delighted to be entering into partnership.
“As well as passing on our expertise to local teams in Zimbabwe, we are also looking forward to learning from clinical colleagues working at the Luisa Guidotti Hospital.
“For example, we are hoping to develop a deeper understanding of global health issues such as the rising rates of neonatal death associated with climate change and to gain a better understanding of why the maternal death rate for black women in the UK is four times higher than for white women.
“This insight will help us to make changes to ensure that we address this inequity, making it safer for all women who give birth in Buckinghamshire.”
The Trust provides care to over half a million patients every year in hospitals, community settings, and people’s homes.
It employs more than 6,000 people, including clinical colleagues such as doctors, nurses, midwives, health visitors, therapists, support workers, and healthcare scientists, all supported by corporate and administrative staff.
The Trust’s vision is to provide outstanding care, create healthy communities, and make the Trust a great place to work.