Telemedicine exchange on tuberculosis in Mozambique
By Prof. Dr. med. Prof. h.c. Florian Heinen and Privatdozent Dr. med. Ulrich von Both
At the Catholic University in Beira, Mozambique, one disease is common that is rare in our country – tuberculosis. In many subjects of internal medicine, paediatrics, radiology and surgery, it is a fundamental part of the curriculum for medical students and young doctors and is diagnosed clinically on a daily basis. In Germany, by contrast, tuberculosis is much rarer among children and adolescents and is treated successfully.
In the outpatient clinic and polyclinic of the university in Beira, as well as in the neighbouring central hospital, tuberculosis is frequently diagnosed, alongside the other – still frequently occurring – diagnoses of HIV and malaria. The combination of HIV and tuberculosis in particular is common, since the virus, through the immunosuppression it induces, promotes mycobacterial infection and disease.
Through a joint effort by the Institute of Tropical Medicine of the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich, the LMU Center for International Health (CIH) and the Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, it was possible to enlist the internationally and nationally renowned tuberculosis expert – Privatdozent Dr. med. Ulrich von Both – for the cooperation between the Munich and Beira universities and the expansion of telemedical care.
Ulrich von Both, who has worked intensively on tuberculosis for many years both in Munich and previously at one of the most renowned medical institutes, Imperial College in London, has also recently successfully coordinated a major telemedicine consortium project in Germany as medical project leader, aimed at improving the treatment of infectious diseases in children – through the targeted application of the “less is more” principle for antibiotics. The issue of the rational use of antibiotics and the problem of antibiotic resistance needs to be tackled with far greater urgency in Africa.
We are therefore especially glad to have been able to recruit Uli von Both – as we are allowed to call him. He is available as an advisor and a key player for a better future in Mozambique, and together with the Center for International Health and the DMG he will undertake further activities to expand telemedicine advice on tuberculosis as well as on general questions of infectious diseases, above all the targeted use of antibiotics.
Please support this initiative too – it directly benefits the young patients in Beira.
Prof. Dr. Florian Heinen with medical students at the Catholic University in Beira.
