Towards Assuring a Healthy Future for the People of Mongolia

The Ulan Bator Foundation
Venice, California

California-Mongolia Medical Project
(Ca-MMP)

(2002 - 2007)

SUMMARY

The Ulan Bator Foundation, Venice, California seeks financial support for its innovative, model California - Mongolia Medical Program (Ca-MMP) located in both the urban and countryside communities of Mongolia. The goal of the Ca-MMP is to improve the overall health of the children and adolescents of Mongolia through increasing the skills of the medical professionals by teaching the teachers and the resident scientists. Expanded impact will be facilitated through development of model telemedicine and teleconsultation networks and introduction of a Child to Child Art Project.

BACKGROUND

Arnold Springer PhD, Professor of Russian History, California State Long Beach University founded the Ulan Bator Foundation, a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization in 1990. The Foundation's mission is "to promote cultural and medical information/technology exchange between the people of Mongolia and Southern California on a people to people basis." The Foundation has successfully established a number of important liaisons with medical and government leaders and other significant stakeholders responsible for healthcare policy and practice in Mongolia. In 1995, Richard G MacKenzie MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and Director, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles carried out a preliminary needs assessment of the state of pediatric practice and education in Mongolia. The main focus was on the pediatric medical and surgical care provided at the Maternal and Child Health Research Center (MCHRC) in Ulan Bator.

Significant correctable deficiencies were identified.

· Delivery of medical care was greatly hindered by outdated medical practices and technology

· Medical and surgical supplies were inadequate to provide even the basic of pediatric care within the MCHRC

· Significant barriers to medical care access existed for Mongolia's rural and nomadic population, which comprised 40% of the country's total population of 2.6 million.

· Disproportionately high mortality and morbidity especially among infants and children.

· The curriculum at the National Medical University of Mongolia was found to lack up-to-date instruction in physiology, mechanisms of disease, deductive reasoning, and modern treatment protocols.

· Equipment donated by previous visitors and country initiatives often went unused due to lack of knowledge of use and repair.

The outcome of this visit, augmented by continued fact-finding and assessment, resulted in the creation of the Foundation's California-Mongolia Medical Project (Ca-MMP). This program is committed to improving the knowledge, skills and clinical diagnostic and treatment resources of the medical community of the MCHRC. Special focus will be given to the Mongolia Medical University to strengthen the pediatric medical curriculum by introducing problem-based learning and assisting faculty through developing research skills and protocols. Physicians and surgeons from Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California will participate in providing medical consultation, research collaboration and onsite medical education.

The initial delegation visited in 1997, and the response from both Mongolia's government and medical community was overwhelmingly positive. The powerful impact that such an alliance will have on the future health of Mongolia's people became apparent to both Mongolian and US professionals.

The Foundation has developed a strategic five-year program to address the pressing needs of in-country physicians, as identified and assessed by the initial visits. The initial emphasis of the program will focus on children and adolescent's medical, surgical and health problems at the MCHRC - an effort that will later expand to encompass adults and treatment in rural areas. The Foundation's goal is to act in partnership with the medical community of Mongolia, to help establish significant and permanent change sustainable by in-country physicians and health care workers.

The Ca-MMP has 8 clearly defined and measurable goals.

1. Provide medical education assistance to Mongolian medical professionals at the Maternal & Child Hospital and Research Center (MCHRC) in the capital city of Ulan Bator and in rural areas of Mongolia, via on-site instruction and eventually via telemedicine consultations.
2. Provide training and education in a variety of medical specialties conducted by US experts via on-site lectures, observerships and skill-building workshops.
3. Provide medical equipment and supplies when feasible.
4. Develop a professional exchange program for Mongolian medical/surgical professionals to spend 3 months at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles or another similar medical facility as an "observer".
5. Provide assistance to the research community at the MCHRC and National Medical University, not only to better understand the medical and health issues of the people of Mongolia, but also to enhance the image of Mongolia's medical professionals on the international stage.
6. Develop a pilot telemedicine and teleconsultation network using the 'hub and spoke' model to connect district medical centers in the countryside with the MCHRC
7. Develop a Child to Child Art Project that joins pediatric patients in the US with their counterparts in Mongolia to enhance the physical environment of the wards at the MCHRC through art, murals, hangings, etc.
8. Assist in updating and revising the pediatric medical curriculum at the National Medical University in Ulan Bator with a focus on problem-based learning.

The people of Mongolia have a history imbued with power, pride, freedom and nature. Now, for many life is confined to the city in one to two-room apartments, yet surrounded by one of the emptiest countries on earth. History has left a trail of confusing messages from foreign traditions, particularly those from Russia and China. It has robbed a people of its roots. Resilience and recovery rests within the country's children and youth - the parents of the future of Mongolia. This project places a sharp focus on this very population, not only in the present, but by way of an investment in the future of Mongolia through its pediatric medical professionals, telemedicine and medical education.