Swansea University’s School of Medicine and Swansea NHS Trust have joined forces with the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in Banjul and The Gambia’s School of Medicine in a major drive to work with developing countries.
The move is in response to the Crisp Report published in February 2007, welcomed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, which highlighted the mutual benefits of UK health-related organisations linking with developing countries.
The Crisp report was commissioned by Tony Blair who said that developing stronger global health partnerships linking hospitals, nursing schools, primary care and universities would allow UK expertise to make an even greater difference.
Although the Swansea-Gambia Link has only just been formally launched, students from both sides have already benefited from visiting their partner countries.
The next step will be the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to ensure the Link develops successfully. Professor John MacDermot of THET International, (formerly known as the Tropical Health and Education Trust) has recently returned from The Gambia where he met with the Secretaries of State for Education and Health, who assured him of their enthusiastic support for the link.