Report on Neonatal Skills Course for COSECSA 2025

Neonatal skills course: 2 December 2025

Venue: Bujumbura Burundi

Co-ordinators : Naomi Wright from UK end and Dennis Mazingi and Carlos from Burundi end. Naomi was not attending but in the final 2 weeks assisted Dennis Mazingi in co- ordinating for the preparation of the course.

Faculty:

• Kokila Lakhoo
• Dennis Mazingi
• Mama Ntiriwa
• Jan Dixon
• Carlos Nsngiyumva ( Burundi)
• Alliance Niyukuri ( Burundi)
• Zaitun Bokari. (Tanzania)
• Mohamed Salem (Tanzania)

Burundi is a very low resourced country so arranging this course came with many challenges. We took all the materials for the course from the UK bar the animal tissue.

Mr. Haitham Dagash and Mr. Merrill McHoney could not attend due to prior commitment for Dr. Dagash and bereavement a week before the course for Mr. McHoney. The course initially planned to run in the military hospital needed to be moved to a hotel at less than 24 hour notice.

Our local team of the only 2 paediatric surgeons in Burundi (Carlos and Alliance) worked with us to deliver the tissue needed as we carried all the other equipment ourself from the UK.

Course participants:

15 people registered for the course but on the day we had 24participants you arrived. Most of them were career paediatric surgeons from sub-Saharan Africa and a few general surgeons working in district hospitals. Representation was from 15 countries

Course Content:

Bowel anastamosis

Gastrostomy

Duodenal atresia with diamond anastamosis

TOF + OA

Gastroschisis

Tissue used was chicken bowel, stomach, and bladder. The local team bought 16 live chickens and had them slaughtered by the local street abattoir for developing the models

Gastroschisis model with gastroschisis dolls (Zaitun and Mohamed)

Course started at 8:30 and finished at 5pm

Feedback:

Positive

1.Very vital skills training course for paediatric surgery and should be incorporated into the training program for paediatric surgery.

2. Able to learn new skills and sharpen operative ability

3. Enjoyed the minimal talking by faculty but engaging and helping with the skills

4. Enjoyed the minimalistic slides with drawings rather than wordy.

5. Fun and enjoyable

6. Enjoyed the flexibility of practising with more tissue during tea and lunch breaks and at the end.

7. One day preconference is just right

What could be improved:

Having intra operative pictures next to the illustrated and simulation model.

Report Prepared by:

Professor Kokila Lakhoo

BAPS Member

University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals

4 DECEMBER 2025