The success of HLI’s medical trainings depends upon the support of the Lao Ministry of Health and provincial health administrators who have made the commitment and have the capacity to affect positive change. Through mutual respect and open-ended dialogue, the Lao Ministry of Health and Health Leadership International have forged an optimal working relationship where each partner assumes responsibility for designated tasks and roles. Lao Partner Responsibilities
- Leadership and staff support from each Provincial Hospital Director that hosts an
HLI training - Guidance in creating training curricula that addresses local health concerns, medical
education gaps and areas of greatest need - Providing classrooms and secure office space in a Provincial Hospital for each training
- Designating bi-lingual Lao physicians to serve as co-trainers
- Selecting and inviting rural health workers to attend the trainings
- Assisting with Lao translation of curriculum materials
Health Leadership International Responsibilities
- Recruitment of medical faculty volunteers who pay their own expenses
- Cultural competency training for team members
- Preparation of course curriculum materials
- Lao translation of curriculum materials and community health guides
- Publication and printing of books and curriculum materials
- Fund-raising to cover the expense of curriculum materials, medical supplies, per
diem/travel costs for rural students and co-trainer honoraria - Trip logistics
Our Commitment to Creating and Funding a Laotian Clinical Curriculum
Recognizing Lao’s need for Laotian medical education training materials, HLI created and provided Lao/English curricula, PowerPoints, and medical texts to health professionals we trained. These valuable resources for Lao health practitioners, especially those serving remote areas, as there are few other health education resources in the Lao language.
HLI medical educators worked with Lao translators to provide have linguistically and culturally appropriate curriculum materials for all their Clinical, Leadership and Medical English courses. Health Leadership International continues to strengthen these translations so that each trainee can build on their medical knowledge with bi-lingual course materials. This includes two outstanding Lao translated community health guides found on the Language Hub at Hesperian, Where There Is No Doctor and Where Women Have No Doctor. In addition, Lao students attending our English for Health Professional classes received a copy of the collaborative, HLI and Momobooks, English for Health Professionals endorsed by the Lao Ministry of Health.
Our Commitment to Sustainability and Medical Manpower Development in Lao PDR
HLI is committed to medical manpower development.
A key ingredient in Health Leadership International’s planning was to develop a Medical Education model that would be self-sustaining and not depend upon non- Lao educators coming to Lao PDR over an indefinite period. To address this concern, HLI adopted a Train-the-Trainer model to develop an in-country cadre of physician-trainers who could carry the work forward.
Our Train-the-Trainer Model
Health Leadership International pairs each faculty member with a bi-lingual Lao physician to co- teach the course. At the conclusion of the training, all co-trainers are given the complete course curriculum, including all PowerPoints, translated into Lao. This enables them to teach others and extend the reach of the training after the Health Leadership International leaves.
HLI became a federal fiscal agent and was awarded over a period of ten years federal grants from the U.S. Department of State; Weapons Removal and Abatement Department. These grants focused on funding medical education for healthcare professionals in affected UXO regions in the Lao PDR.
HLI’s Impact from Funding Received from the Department of State: 2012-2020
Health Leadership International (HLI), a Seattle based NGO, received a total of $1,040,000 grant funding in two grants from the US Department of State for portable ultrasound, emergency clinical and PTSD and suicide prevention training for District Healthcare providers in UXO affected districts of the Lao PDR between 2012 and 2020. HLI focus was medical healthcare provider capacity building and improved diagnostic, curative and emergency clinical medicine in the rural areas of the Lao PDR, working in partnership with the Ministry of Health and the University of Health Sciences and the three Colleges of Health Sciences in the Lao PRD.
HLI and its team of volunteer medical physicians, physician assistants and PhD medical educators donated over $827,500 of volunteer professional time, airfare and travel costs
providing these medical training projects in the Lao PDR for over eight years. The grant funding from the Department of State primarily paid for portable ultrasound equipment, medical supplies, translations and travel and per-diem for Lao medical training attendees and Physician co-trainers.