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“This project was initiated in
response to an increasing number
of dialysis patients in Belize. The
nation lacked resources, physicians
specialized in nephrology, and the
means to train new personnel. Without
quantifiable data, it was difficult to
identify the direction for nephrology in
the country. Hence, the government
of Belize sought support from
Taiwan’s experiences and worked
with the TaiwanICDF and Far Eastern
Memorial Hospital to implement an
overall plan and personnel training...”
Dr. Peng Yu-sen, Director of the
Division of Nephrology of Far Eastern
Memorial Hospital and key person of
the Capacity Building Project for the
Prevention and Control of Chronic
Renal Failure in Belize, thus illustrates
the origins of this project.
T h e t wo c o u n t r i e s b e g a n
discussing these concepts in
2013. Following project approval,
contractual negotiations were formally
initiated in 2015 and the project is set
to begin in 2016. Dr. Peng points out
that this project can be divided into
four parts, as listed below:
1. Strengthen chronic disease
prevention and public health
functions through education:
Work with existing mobile medical
services in Belize to provide health
education on chronic and renal
diseases. The involved parties will
organize or attend symposiums
and regional conferences on
subjects relevant to prevention
of chronic diseases to raise
awareness of the private, public,
academic and research sectors of
Belize.
2. Professional capacity building
and improving capacity in renal
healthcare: Arrange for chronic
disease prevention healthcare
personnel from Belize to undergo
training in Taiwan and serve as
seed instructors when they return
to Belize. Taiwan will also dispatch
IT experts and consultants to Belize
to provide professional consultation
and system development services.
3. Improving healthcare information
systems to facilitate chronic
disease tracking and management:
To establish a case management
system for the prevention of
chronic diseases, Taiwan and
Belize will work together to develop
an information system in the first
year and have the system online by
the second year. By the third year,
the chronic disease prevention
case management system will be
established and released for use
at designated regional-, district-
and primary-level healthcare
institutions.
4. Establishing a screening system
and database to facilitate analysis
and policy making: Statistics of
renal diseases will be compiled
through screening community
residents and patients seeking
treatment at medical institutions
(high risk individuals for renal
diseases) and sorted into different
populations (by ethnicity, patients
of diabetes and hypertension).
The statistics would then be
used to determine the incidence
and preva l ence o f ch ron i c
diseases, facilitate the setup
of a health database, and offer
recommendations for projects or
policies.
To ach i e v e t he goa l s and
effect projected for the project,
the TaiwanICDF and Far Eastern
Memorial Hospital will take on
different roles in the project. The
TaiwanICDF will dispatch a project
manager to Belize to implement
and monitor the project, including
tracking project progress, compiling
and analyzing renal disease data
from Belize, and arranging healthcare
professional training in Taiwan. As a
professional medical institution, the
Far Eastern Memorial Hospital will
dispatch healthcare and IT personnel
to Belize to carry out clinical training
and to monitor and review the results
of personnel training.
Dr. Peng emphasizes that both
the TaiwanICDF and Far Eastern
Memorial Hospital have invested a
great deal of effort and resources
into supporting the basic preventive
missions in Belize through sharing
Taiwan’s successful experiences
in renal disease prevention. “We
treated this project as our spearhead
for preventing chronic diseases in
Central America. We hope to make
full use of these three years to build
up the infrastructure through instilling
health concepts, building database
and developing professionals. With
this foundation, we can draw the
blueprint for the next 10 years and
pave the way for policymaking for
other chronic diseases.”
Dr. Peng Yu-sen, Director, Division of Nephrology,
Far Eastern Memorial Hospital
Spearheading chronic disease prevention
in Central America
1
Interview