Dem. Republic Congo

The DU program in the Democratic Republic of Congo started in 2005 with two centers in the South Kivu region: Mbobero and Birava.

In addition to that, ST Foundation  supported a Telemedicine and distance learning project at the Fomulac Hospital in Katana, few kilometers away from the two DU centers.

Mbobero ST Foundation’s partners are METID (Metodologie E Tecnologie Innovative per la Didattica), the e-learning center of Polytechnic of Milan, and with MLFM (Movimento per la Lotta contro la Fame nel Mondo), an Italian NGO.

The aim was  to create a Computer Learning Center  freely accessible to teachers, students and the local community, and where they can attend free computer  courses  as well as take advantage of other ICT activities provided by METID.

Mboero

The site chosen was the Saint Paul Lyceum, a secondary school lead by Barnabite priests, located in Mbobero, a village near the Province capital city of Bukavu. The Computer Learning Center was  set up at in August 2005 and consisted of a network of 11 computers connected to Internet through a satellite connection. The network has been expanded with access points in order to allow network and Internet access to other parts of the Lyceum such as the Secretariat, the Principal’s Office and the Barnabite House.

Birava At the beginning of 2006 another lab was created in order to offer free access to computers and training to teachers, students and local community in the village of Birava, 25 kilometers away from the city of Bukavu. Together with METID and MLFM, the lab is installed and the trainers trained at the Nyamucola High School, managed by the religious catholic order of the Barnabite priests and with a student population of about 650.

The computer learning center consists of a network of 11 computers connected to internet through a satellite connection. The lab provides computer literacy and training to school staff and students during school hours and to the local community in the afternoon and evenings. In the week-end the lab serves as open local kiosk.

Birava



Fomulac Hospital, Katana The Telemedicine and Distance Training project at the Fomulac Hospital in Katana was first funded in 2008. ST Foundation’s partners for this initiative are METID, MLFM and the San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy with the NGO AISPO. The Fomulac hospital, situated over 50 Km from the Province capital city, Bukavu, is an important medical center for a large part of the South Kivu province, which suffered from isolation, absent internet connectivity and difficult phone connectivity.

The objectives of this three years’ project were  to improve the hospital’s access to communication means, contribute to the development of an internal network allowing the management of digital case histories, introduce telemedicine applications for distance advice and treatment of patients and perform e-learning sessions for doctors and medical personnel. Exchange periods of Congolese doctors at the San Raffaele Hospital and of Italian doctors at the Fomulac hospital are also envisaged.


Several e-courses have been organized, covering topics of ultrasound scan, pediatrics, internal medicine, anesthetization, anatomy and physiology.

Ultrasound scan at Fomulac Hospital

Ultrasound scan at Fomulac Hospital

Several rooms were equipped with modern instruments, notably for maternal and child health and for blood transfusions.

A web conference on Transport and Surveillance of Breathable Gazes for Anesthetization has been held successfully on August, 12 2010 with a selected pool of specialists from the Hospital of Padova, in Italy.

There have been over 15’000 DU beneficiaries in Congo as of March 2013.

Moreover in the first quarter of the year 4 new labs were set up: Laboratoire informatique d'Irambo, Asteria Urafiki, Institut Mgr Guido, Institut Burhiba.

ICBF Congo

An ICBF  course took place in February to train 13 new trainers, to be able to cope with the current expansion strategy.