Introduction to ETAT: a practical and proven concept for emergency care of children

If you are planning to work abroad, get prepared! With this workshop, we are offering an insight into the ETAT concept for the treatment of critically ill children, which has shown to improve  a lot the preparation  for taking care for children  in a LMIC. The Workshop with an introduction and practical examples will  be conducted by experienced ETAT instructors from Europe and LIC.

Number of Participants: 16
Workshop Organisation: Gudrun Jäger, Tina Möller, Anke Fischaleck, Simone Ross, Tania Gahama, Michael Akpoke, Innocent Mugisha

Paediatric Ultrasound in Low-Resource Settings

Paediatric sonography is a valuable clinical tool but implementing it in low resource settings can be a challenge. Beside some basic remarks in respect to the topic clinical cases will be presented and discussed. The workshop addresses any colleague who is interested in the field of paediatric sonography. Contributions of participants are welcome.

Number of Participants: 16 per workshop
Workshop Organisation: Bernd Erkert, Tobias Wowra (supported by: Tho Thi Y Dinh, Sam Lyvannak)

Obstetric Ultrasound in Low-Resource Settings

The working group “obstetrical sonography” is intended to give a small insight into the basics of ultrasound examination of the pregnant patient. Some important diagnoses will be discussed, which can quickly end in life-threatening complications if left undetected, but which can also be easily and reliably detected by non-experts, even with simple equipment.

A special focus will be placed on the possible applications in very basic settings.

It is deliberately intended to address newcomers as participants and to familiarise them with effective obstetric ultrasound technology; it is not intended to be a workshop only for highly specialised prenatal physicians who discuss details of early fetal organ diagnostics with each other.

Number of Participants: 50
Workshop Organisation: Johannes Leidinger (supported by: Antke Züchner)

Development of a Code of Conduct for the GTP

This workshop is dedicated to the development of a Code of Conduct for the GTP. At the beginning of the workshop, the participants’ expectations of a Code of Conduct will be mapped out. Possible topics to be included in a Code of Conduct will be discussed based on examples of similar documents issued by other organisations. This will be followed by a discussion in small groups on topics that have arisen and a first draft on some of the points collected. As the elaboration of a complete Code of Conduct would go beyond the time frame of this workshop, this workshop wants to set a first impulse for a further elaboration of a Code of Conduct in a working group dedicated to this purpose. In order to compile a document that unites the views and perspectives of all GTP members, we would be pleased to have as broad a field of participants as possible, reflecting different perspectives and horizons of experience as well as age groups within the GTP.

Open to GTP members and anyone interested in the topic.

Number of Participants: 25
Workshop Organisation: Carmen Herr and Sarah Kotsias-Konopelska (with input from: Arianne Claire Alvarez, Martina Oneko, Tresor Mabanza)

Clinical Cases and Critical Thinking

Tips on “How to use sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic armamentaria namely: history, physical examination and that most elaborate and sophisticated of all: Critical Thinking in resource-limited settings to diagnose and treat ill inpatient children more effectively”. This will be done as an interactive exercise through presenting a number of actual patient scenarios in resource-limited settings that will help you be more effective physicians without spending more money or bringing along any expensive equipment except your brain (add a portable ultrasound machine in there). This will be a kind of very practical intellectual and mental exercise that they would less likely to teach you in “global-health” or “tropical medicine” courses.

Number of Participants: 50
Workshop Organisation: Hadi Mohsenibod

The involvement of children in planetary health’ – Ways and methods to actively educate children to be planetary health change makers

No one is secure until we are all safe, something that climate change has forced us to realize very slowly. We must make the decision to invest in a bottom-up approach of educating one of the most vulnerable yet undervalued groups—children—to safeguard and assure us of a healthy planet in the years to come.

Number of Participants: 25
Workshop Organisation: Ikeoluwapo Lydia Oluwayemi

Working Group of Health Professionals

Our topics at our workshop will be the following:

“Structure and development of a premature infant intensive care unit from the perspective of a ward manager from Mwanza/Tanzania”.

The Tanzanian head of the premature intensive care unit of the Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza / Tanzania, Sophia Kassim Sembe, will talk about her 10 years of experience in the development of care in her premature intensive care unit with the setbacks and successes, as well as her experiences in the international cooperation with nurses and doctors from Europe.

Our second topic is “Challenges in the introduction and use of different adapted bCPAP techniques in Ghana and Tanzania”.

I, Irene Schmidt, a specialist nurse in paediatric intensive care, have given training on different bCPAP techniques (Pumani, Diamedica and the self-built bCPAP) in 4 different hospitals, in Eikwe / Ghana and in Ndana, Mwanza and Dodoma in Tanzania, and have applied these techniques together with the local staff. I will talk about the opportunities offered by this therapy, present the different techniques and report on the technical and nursing problems in their application.

Number of Participants: 50
Workshop Organisation: Irene Schmidt, Sophia Kassim Sembe

Climate Resilient health facilities – architecture and sustainable supply of energy and consumables

During this workshop we will describe challenges associated with access to essential paediatric and newborn care in low- resource settings. These challenges can potentially be exacerbated by climate change related factors.

With some pragmatic examples we would like to demonstrate on how ‘modern’ design of health facilities and renewable energy systems can contribute: 

• To improved access to essential care by ensuring reliable electricity supply, which can power decentralised oxygen production, light, cold chain etc.
• To improved care and working conditions in health facilities.
• To adequate ‘infection prevention control measures’.

These sustainable construction and energy solutions are reliable and cost-effective.

Additionally, the suggested solutions attempts can contribute to reduced carbon 👣of health systems.

Planning and set-up of health facilities can be associated with technical and medical capacity building.

Integration of communities in planning, construction and on-going function of health facilities can improve acceptability and sustainable impact of health care provision.

Number of Participants: 20
Workshop Organisation: Hans-Jörg Lang, Marianna Nigra, Walter Commerell, Charlotte Adamczick, Alexander Weise (with contributions from Andrew Argent, Nellie Bell, Diavolana Koecher Andrianarimanana, Joyce Mwatonoka, Alyn Mbengo, Olubunmi Ode), Lorenz von Seidlein, Salum Mshamu, Jakob Knudsen

Will you be a learner or a teacher at the GTP conference? We think that you – always – will be both, especially in an international and intercultural context like the one of Global Child Health. In the World Café we will approach learning and teaching from different angles. Together we will develop ideas and try to understand how attitude and position influence learning, how systematic learning can be applied to different situations. We will work on seeing evaluation and mistakes made as a chance for further growth and frame it all with the required intercultural respect and understanding.

To enable an in-depth discussion and confidential working atmosphere, spaces are limited to 28 participants.

Please note: If you attend the World Café, you cannot attend the fireside talks and only part of the poster walk!

Number of Participants: 28
Workshop Organisation: Claudia von Both, Noa Freudenthal, Johanna Kröger

We offer the possibility of 1:1 conversation with the international guests of the GTP. Take the chance to discuss and network with people you would otherwise find difficult to reach and boost your professional advancement.

Framework: Six slots per expert (each slot = 10min), synchronized with the Plenary Session.

Please note: You can only book one slot in the fireside talks. If you attend the fireside talks, you cannot attend the World Café!

Stephen Allen

Stephen Allen is a Professor of Paediatrics and a Paediatric Gastroenterologist. At the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, he leads the Probiotics and Synbiotics in infants in Kenya (PROSYNK) study (PACTR202003893276712), is the Gut Health Workstream lead for the GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub study (https://actionagainststunting.org/), and is a co-investigator for a feasibility study of probiotics for preterm/low-birth-weight infants admitted to the University College Hospital Ibadan, Nigeria. Additionally, Dr. Allen established the Neonatal Nutrition Network (https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/research/departments/clinical-sciences/neonatal-nutrition-network) and is secretary for the Commonwealth Association of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (http://www.capgan.info/). He is currently based at the Department of Paediatrics, Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, Banjul, The Gambia where he is a post-graduate trainer in paediatrics and Chair of the hospital’s Research Ethics Committee.

Andrew Argent

Professor Argent was Professor and Head of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital (RCWMCH) and the University of Cape Town in Cape Town South Africa until he retired in October 2020.
He has worked in Paediatric Critical Care in Cape Town for over 30 years and was director of the Paediatric intensive care unit at the RCWMCH from 1999 to 2019.
He has been a past president of both the Critical Care Society of Southern Africa, and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care societies.
His Doctoral studies for the MD (Paediatrics) related to the mechanics of breathing of children with acute severe croup.  This provided experience and training particularly in respiratory mechanics, and processes of assessing clinical severity scores.  He has been involved in a number of studies addressing respiratory care in critically ill children, ventilation, pneumonia (including ventilator associated pneumonia), viral pathogens in pneumonia and has contributed editorials on these subjects.
More recently he has been involved in systematic review processes to assess transfusion requirements of critically ill children and optimization of management of severe sepsis in children.  He is currently involved with work relating to updating of sepsis definitions for children across the world.
Over the years he has written about the challenges related to resource allocation for critically ill children and adults and some of the ethical challenges in critical care.  He has also contributed to the literature regarding paediatric cardiac intensive care.
In addition to the published material he has played an active role as a reviewer for journals and as Associate Editor (Pediatric Critical Care Medicine) and member of the editorial board (Intensive Care Medicine).
Currently he is a deputy Chair for the SCCM initiative on Paediatric Sepsis Definitions.  He is involved in a number of international collaborations

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutta

Professor, MD, PhD. Robert Harding Chair in Global Child Health and Policy & Co-Director at the Center for Global Child Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada & the Founding Director, Institute for Global Health & Development, the Aga Khan University, South Central Asia, East Africa and United Kingdom

Zulfiqar A. Bhutta is a Professor and Founding Director of the Institute for Global Health and Development and the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan. He also holds adjunct professorships at the Schools of Public Health at Johns Hopkins, George Washington University, Boston University School of Public Health, University of Alberta, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He has served as the co-chair of the Maternal and Child Health oversight committee of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) and a technical member of the high-level UN Health and Human Rights Committee. As the past President of the Commonwealth Association of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (CAPGAN), the Federation of Asia-Oceania Perinatal Societies (FAOPS), and the International Pediatrics Association (IPA), he has been a leading voice for health professionals supporting integrated maternal, newborn and child health globally. Zulfiqar’s research interests include newborn and child survival, maternal and child undernutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies, primarily covering the first thousand days. He has served on several international editorial advisory boards, has published over 1250 indexed publications to date, and has received many awards, such as the Pakistan Gold Medal for contributions to Child Health in Pakistan, Outstanding Pediatrician of Asia award by the Asia Pacific Pediatric Association, and recognized by the Senate of Canada with its Canada 150 Medal for contributions to Global Child Health.

Nellie Bell

German trained Paediatric Consultant, wife and mother of 2 kids.
Primary and part of Secondary School was done in Sierra Leone. I completed Secondary school in England, UK.
I moved to Germany in 1997, learnt the German language in Heidelberg and then commenced undergraduate medical studies at the University of Heidelberg.
After completion of undergraduate studies, I commenced the postgraduate training in paediatrics in 2005 in Klinikum Mannheim and completed in 2010. Diploma in tropical medicine was done in 2010/2011 in Berlin.
I have been in Sierra Leone since 2011, working in the only tertiary hospital for paediatrics in SL, Ola During Children’s Hospital. Initially as the medical director of the NGO Cap Anamur then moving to work for the Government of Sierra Leone in the same hospital. I am currently the head of Department for Paediatrics both for postgraduate and undergraduate training.
ODCH has since gained full accreditation to train to fellowship level and the first 3 candidates are preparing to take the clinical exams after passing the theory in February 2023. There are currently 80 students in the undergraduate program and 7 postgraduate candidates in all.
I am a Fellow of the West African College of Physicians, Fellow of the Sierra Leone College of Physicians and Surgeons, Member of the German Society for Children and Adolescent medicine and Member of the German Society of tropical paediatrics. Attained the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award in 1997 in the UK.
I was born in Leer, Ostfriesland, Germany.

Mike English

Mike English is a UK trained paediatrician who worked in Kenya for 25 years supported by a series of Wellcome fellowships. In Kenya he worked as part of the KEMRI-Wellcome Nairobi Programme and built up the Health Services Unit in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the University of Nairobi and a wide set of national and international collaborators. His work focuses predominantly on improving care in African District Hospitals, often takes Child and Newborn Health as a focus, but increasingly tackles health services or wider health systems issues affecting quality of care. Mike now co-leads the Health Systems Collaborative in Oxford which is part of the NDM-Centre for Global Health Research.

Beate Kampmann

Beate Kampmann is Professor of Global Health and scientific director of the newly established Charite Centre for Global Health and the Institut fur Internationale Gesundheit, Charite Virchow Campus.
She recently relocated to Berlin from a Chair in Paediatric Infection & Immunity at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), where she directed the Vaccine Centre at LSHTM https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres/vaccine-centre. Over the last 12 years, she has divided her working time between London and The Gambia, West Africa, where she led the vaccine research at the MRC Unit-The Gambia in West Africa and still continues her project and PhD student supervision.
Beate trained as a clinician-scientist in Germany, France, USA, South Africa and the UK and holds an MD from the University of Cologne and a PhD from Imperial College, UK. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in the UK and the West African College of Physicians and an MRC Senior Researcher.
Her translational research portfolio focuses on innate and acquired immune responses to infection and vaccination, including in pregnant women and infants and the conduct of clinical trials of novel vaccines and adjuvants. She is the director of IMPRINT- the IMmunising PRegnant women and INfants neTwork. https://www.imprint-network.co.uk/, a UKRI-GCRF-funded multi-disciplinary and global network of scientists, clinicians and public health representatives with a special interest in vaccines for pregnant women and newborns and has published over 300 articles.
She has remained clinically active in paediatric infectious diseases throughout her career and has looked after many children with sepsis, including neonatal sepsis due to Group B streptococcus infections.

Bernadette O’Hare

MD, MPH, FRCPCH, Senior Lecturer in Global Child Health. Deputy head of the Division of Infection and Global Health, The University of St Andrews. Senior Lecturer in Global Health, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi

Bernadette O’Hare is a Senior Lecturer in Global Health Implementation at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and a Senior Lecturer in Pediatrics and Child Health at the College of Medicine in Malawi. She worked in the NHS for over 20 years, including as a consultant pediatrician, pediatrician, and public health doctor in Africa. She is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, sits on the Working Group on Climate Change, and is also an executive member of the committee of the Pediatric and Child Health Association in Malawi. Her research interests include global influences on government revenue in low- and middle-income countries and the impact this has on development and fundamental rights.

Hadi Mohseni-Bod

Professor, Dr.. Locum staff physician, London Health Sciences Centre, London, ON, Canada; Honorary staff physician, Critical Care, SickKids, Toronto, ON, Canada, & Visiting professor, Mofid children’s Hospital, Tehran, Iran

Hadi Mohensi-Bod is a pediatric critical care medicine specialist who practices in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Duluth and St. Paul, Minnesota, with over 33 years of experience. His specialties include cardiovascular disease, emergency medicine, pediatric critical care medicine, and pediatric cardiology. He has a Certification in pediatrics from the American Board of Pediatrics and a Certification in Pediatric Critical Medicine from the American Board of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.

Amy Sanyahumbi

Dr. Amy Sanyahumbi is an Assistant Professor and Pediatric Cardiologist with Baylor College of Medicine / Texas Children’s Hospital.  She completed her pediatric training and cardiology fellowship at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC, and went on to complete a National Institutes of Health/ Fogarty Fellowship in Global Clinical Research in Malawi.  She currently lives in Lilongwe, Malawi, where she leads an NIH-funded study, “Improving Adherence to Benzathine Penicillin Among Children with Rheumatic Heart Disease in Malawi.”  She currently serves on the American Heart Association’s committee on Rheumatic Fever, Endocarditis, and Kawasaki Disease, and on the World Heart Federation’s RHD echo screening guideline committee.  She had authored multiple publications on RHD in Malawi.  In addition to her research, Dr. Sanyahumbi co-directs the pediatric cardiology clinic at a large public hospital in Lilongwe, and trains local health workers in research, echocardiography, and pediatric cardiology.

Charles Schubert

Dr. Charles Schubert is a professor and Director of the Division of Urban, Undeserved, and Global Health in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He also is the former Director of the Global Child Health Track at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and a paediatric emergency medicine physician. His research interests include global health education, where he investigates methods to educate clinicians who serve underserved populations and the well-being of those who practice global health. Dr. Schubert has received multiple humanitarian awards, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award, the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, and the National Michael Shannon Humanitarian Award. He founded the Crossroad Health Center in Cincinnati and has worked in Zambia, Kenya, and Malawi.

Charles Shepherd

Retired consultant paediatrician. Lead tutor for Diploma in Child Health for Iheed educational agency and The Royal College of Physicians of Dublin

Leila Srour

As a pediatrician who has received training in the United States, I have accumulated extensive experience in this field of medicine. I have pursued a Master’s in Public Health and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene to bolster my expertise. For more than twenty years, I have been practicing pediatrics in California, where I have been able to provide essential care to countless children and their families. In 2002, I decided to devote myself to volunteering full-time in Laos with Health Frontiers. In this capacity, I have provided valuable support for the training and continuing medical education of Lao pediatricians. My work has allowed me to make a meaningful impact on the lives of children and their families in this region. Additionally, I have worked with Health Volunteers Overseas to provide pediatric training in Bhutan, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Uganda. My research on noma, a neglected tropical disease that affects vulnerable children, has been published in various articles. I strongly advocate for its inclusion in the World Health Organization’s List of Neglected Tropical Diseases. I have also been involved in research on the harmful effects of formula product marketing in developing countries. These studies have been crucial in raising awareness about the exploitation of vulnerable populations in these regions. I am currently serving as the Pediatric Steering Committee chairperson for Health Volunteers Overseas. In this role, I am working towards providing post-graduate healthcare training in resource-limited areas. My dedication to this field of medicine is unwavering, and I remain committed to making a difference in the lives of children and their families, no matter where they are located.

Martin Weber

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for your interest in participation in the TropPaed course. Register via our online form (see below). Your registration is binding.

Please note following information prior to registration:

Course schedule
– Arrival: from Sunday 4th of May 2025 from 5 p.m. Dinner will be served, please indicate in your registration if you wish to have dinner or let us know latest a week prior to your arrival in order for us to be able to plan for the correct amount of people.
– Program starts: Monday 8:45 a.m.
– Check-out from the rooms: Friday before breakfast
– Course end and departure: Friday around 2 p.m. after lunch

Mentoring our international guests
In recent years, we have introduced that there are voluntary primary contact persons for our international guests within the European participant group, which was perceived by both sides as very positive. As a so-called mentor, you are the contact person for general questions that do not concern the course organization, feel responsible to see if everything is in order, engage in communication and may even be a room neighbor. Feel free to sign up as a mentor when you register.

Course fees
Our course fees are calculated to exactly match the course costs after deduction of sponsoring without making any profit. Course costs include full board at the castle, room rent, travel and accommodation costs for lecturers and organizers as well as the scholarships for our international guests. All organizers work on a voluntary basis, lecturers do not receive salaries.

Cancellation Policy.
If you need or chose to withdraw your course registration we will try to fill your spot with someone from the waiting list. Additionally you will have the chance to present a substitute yourself. If your registration can be filled with someone else, we will refund you with the full course fees minus a 50 Euro handling fee. If your spot cannot be filled, we will charge you the full course fee.

Pandemic – further regulations.
– If there are requirements at the time of the course regarding mandatory testing for Sars-CoV-2 or other pathogens, we reserve the right to have you perform appropriate tests independently or on site at your own expense.
– The course concerning hygiene regulations we will published and updated on our website.

GTP annual meeting in Gießen 2-4 May 2025
Prior to the TropPaed course the 43nd GTP Annual Conferece is going to take place in Gießen. We are cordially inviting you to join us there. If you can offer free seats in your car, please indicate so at registration.

For queries of any kind regarding the course, please do not hesitate to contact us: troppaed(a)globalchildhealth.de

Registration for the TropPaed course 5-9 May 2025
You will receive a registration confirmation immediately after sending the registration form. Please also check your spam folder. If you do not receive any email your registration was not successful.

You will receive a certificate of participation and confirmation of the paid fee during the course or at the start of the event. To keep administrative work to a minimum, we kindly ask you to refrain from further inquiries regarding this matter.