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Perfusion education. Local expertise. Lasting access to cardiac care.
Across Africa, many people who need cardiac surgery cannot reach the care they need. Sub-Saharan Africa faces an especially severe shortage of cardiac centers and trained heart surgeons.
A 2023 study led by Dominique Vervoort identified just 92 cardiac surgery centers in sub-Saharan Africa, serving more than one billion people. The regional comparison highlights the unequal distribution of this essential care.
Published in 2018, the Cape Town Declaration on Access to Cardiac Surgery in the Developing World called on cardiac societies, governments, and industry to expand access to surgery for rheumatic heart disease. Its emphasis on sustainable local capacity is central to IPA’s support for education at Tenwek.
AGC Tenwek Hospital in western Kenya is working to expand access to cardiac care by training the people who will deliver it. Its three-year Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship prepares heart surgeons to serve communities across Africa.
Bob Groom founded the perfusion education program at Tenwek in 2020. It began as a one-year certificate program and has grown into a two-year program within the Tenwek College of Health Sciences. Accredited by Kenya’s Clinical Officers Council, the program awards a Higher Diploma in Cardiovascular Perfusion to graduates who successfully complete their training.
IPA supports this work through medical equipment donations, shipment funding, and grants for perfusion education—helping local clinicians build skills and services that last.
A 13-unit curriculum combining classroom study, simulation, and clinical experience.
Seven graduates practice in Kenya and one in Rwanda.
Four second-year and two first-year students; five from Kenya and one from Malawi.
The 13-unit curriculum brings classroom learning, simulation, and supervised clinical experience together. Working alongside Tenwek’s surgical training program, students develop the practical skills and clinical judgment needed to support a cardiac surgical team.
Students develop their skills in stages, with classroom learning and direct mentorship supporting each step.
Clinical observation and classroom study establish the foundation.
Simulation adds practical preparation and opportunities to rehearse essential skills.
Clinical training begins under the guidance of a preceptor.
Maxwell Chauwa, a clinical officer from Malawi, is preparing to bring these skills to patients in his home country. He is expected to complete the program in September 2027 and return to Blantyre. The photographs show both his simulation training and his participation in a cardiac surgical case in Malawi, proctored by Tenwek perfusion instructor Anyasuis Rutto.
This is the goal of regional education: training that reaches beyond one hospital. Many graduates have completed six-week fellowships at the Magdi Yacoub Heart Center in Egypt. Tenwek staff have supported seven cardiac missions to Malawi and two to Ethiopia, sharing experience with teams building local access to care.
Education grows through lasting partnerships: students learning from mentors, colleagues sharing their experience, and communities supporting better access to heart care. By investing in the Tenwek program, donors help prepare clinicians to care for patients in Kenya and across the region.
In keeping with the Cape Town Declaration’s call to build local cardiac surgical capacity, IPA invites our subscribers and supporters to invest in perfusion education at Tenwek this Giving Tuesday.
From now through Giving Tuesday, December 1, 2026, donations designated for the Kenya Mission will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $10,000 in total matching funds. Your gift can help provide learning materials, computers, simulation resources, conference sponsorship, clinical fellowships, and support for perfusionists serving on regional missions.
Equipment donations and volunteer teaching are also welcome. Current equipment needs include cell savers, such as Autolog or Xtra systems, and an intra-aortic balloon pump. Contact IPA to discuss suitable equipment or educational support.
Select Kenya Mission in the donation form to direct your gift to this program. The button above opens the form with that selection already filled in.