Dem. Republic Congo

The DU program in the Democratic Republic of Congo is active in two centers in the South Kivu region: Mbobero and Birava.

In addition to that, ST Foundation currently supports 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 has been to create a Computer Learning Center that is freely accessible to teachers, students and the local community, and where they can attend free computer literacy courses as per the Foundation’s Digital Unify curriculum as well as take advantage of other ICT activities provided by METID.

Mboero

The site chosen is 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 has been set up at in August 2005 and consists 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. Two ICT local experts have been trained through the Foundation’s “Train the trainer” program in order to deliver computer literacy training courses throughout the year to students and teachers of the school and of neighboring schools and to the local community.

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 are 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.

In 2010, these activities are successfully progressing. The Fomulac Hospital is fully equipped with internet connection. Although this was not a specific DU project, the hospital personnel and the surrounding community of the city of Katana are being trained through the ICB course and the computer center established on its premises contributes to DU Congo’s output.

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 have been 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 11’900 DU beneficiaries in Congo as of December 2011.

Premature babies treated at Fomulac Hospital

Premature babies treated at Fomulac Hospital