April 24th till May 1st: Start up in Ghana, an important step forward!
In the context of the Walking Egg’s effort to enable access to affordable fertility care for childless women/couples, a collaboration with the Pentecost Hospital, Madina and The Association of Childless Couples of Ghana (ACCOG) had been worked out over the last 2 years. After analysis and thoroughly preparation, the collaboration resulted in the start-up of the first infertility centre at the Pentecost Hospital Madina. The beautiful fertility centre that has been build by the Pentecost Hospital represents the management’s intention to strive for excellence. The goal of this start-up moment was to lay the foundation for a fertility centre that offers the low-cost, simplified Walking Egg IVF-method. Therefor, an expert team of The Walking Egg came to Ghana from April 24th till May 1th: Willem Ombelet, Nathalie Dhont, Brigitte Vandamme and Jan Goossens worked intensively together with the local staff. The aim was: - to discuss the equipment of the centre and the competences of the staff - to train local staff - to consult and select couples and to do examinations (sperm samples, ultrasound, hysterosalpingography,… ) - to prepare a next mission, working towards first fertilizations,… The implementation of this infertility centre is a complex a demanding task. It has to be emphasized that the local managerial and administrative skills are formidable. Based on the evaluation of this first mission, many lessons have been drawn on project design and are the basis for a further rollout of the project within a short period. To be continued!