Practical. Sustainable. Medical training in Africa since 2018

On July 7, 2018, Medical Education and Training for Africa (met4a) was founded as a non-profit association in Remscheid – with 28 dedicated founding members. From the beginning, the aim of the association was to provide practical training and further education for medical personnel in African project countries.

The initiative arose largely from a previous collaboration between the so-called “Eritrea Group” and Hammer Forum e.V. After a change of board at the Hammer Forum, which from then on saw itself exclusively as a children’s aid organization, we decided to pursue our own vision – with a clear focus on medical training instead of pure aid missions.

The following were elected to the board:
• Prof. Dr. med. Helmut Kaulhausen (1st Chairman)
• Prof. Dr. med. Christian Gnoth (Deputy Chairman)
• Frank Dehnke, then Chairman of the Board of Stadtsparkasse Remscheid (Treasurer)

This board was confirmed in office every two years until 2025. The first board meeting took place on August 17, 2018. The statutes submitted to the Wuppertal District Court and the Remscheid Tax Office led to the official registration and recognition of non-profit status. Since then, regular – now also hybrid – general meetings have taken place to enable members living further away to participate.

In addition to the continuous project work in Asmara (Eritrea), we carried out so-called “fact-finding missions” to Uganda, Malawi and Sierra Leone. Despite intensive planning, however, no long-term project establishment took place there.

A central project was established in the municipal maternity clinic of Asmara, the Edaga Hamus Hospital, under the direction of Dr. Kifleyesus. Among other things, midwives were trained in theory and practice by our project partner Edeltraut Hertel. One focus was on training in “Basic Obstetric Ultrasound” to identify risks such as breech presentations, twins, placenta previa or malformations at an early stage. An experienced midwife then took over the multiplier role and trained other colleagues.

This successful project was supported by the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) – including an invitation to our project partners to present their work in Berlin.

We are currently in close contact with the local Ministry of Health. Should there be further cooperation, the general meeting will discuss a new project at the Edaga Hamus Hospital. Dr. Björn Beurer (Berlin) is to take over the project management in Eritrea from 2025 – as successor to Prof. Dr. Helmut Kaulhausen.