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SLU-Madrid Hosts International Seminar Addressing the Absence of Pediatric Oncologists in Rural Bolivia

by Katherine Gortz on 07/30/2019

07/30/2019

The Health Sciences, Nursing and Public Health Department at SLU-Madrid connected medical professionals from Spain and Bolivia in an international seminar on pediatric oncology — EDUQUEMOS EN SALUD: Hablemos de cáncer.

The idea for the conference was developed by SLU-Madrid educational technology and assessment advisor, Sulma Farfán, Ph.D., who observed a need for medical practitioners specializing in pediatric oncology in the rural Tarija region of Bolivia, where she grew up. Through their participation in the seminar, professionals in Tarija, where pediatric oncology does not exist as an area of expertise, exchanged ideas and experiences with peers in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Madrid, Spain, who specialize in treating children with cancer.

Together with health sciences program director Tania de la Fuente, Ph.D., Farfán served as moderator for the seminar. The following participants connected via video conference to take part: Dr. Gustavo de Oliveira Cañedo and Cristina Alberquilla from the Onco-Hematology Department of Madrid’s Hospital Universitario Niño Jesús, Dr. Beatriz Salas from the Pediatric Oncology Department of the Hospital Manuel Asencio Villarroel de Cochabamba, Dr. Elena Orihuela of the Health Service Department of Tarija, and Dr. Antonio Media, expert in educational plans at Madrid’s Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.

EDUQUEMOS EN SALUD: Hablemos de cáncer

Participants in the international seminar on pediatric oncology included medical professionals and educators from SLU-Madrid, the Hospital Universitario Niño Jesús in Madrid, the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia in Madrid, the Hospital Manuel Asencio Villarroel in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and the Health Service Department of Tarija, Bolivia.

Farfán explains, “The objective of the seminar was to open a space where professionals could develop possible ways to collaborate among institutions in Spain and Bolivia in order to allow for the specialization of health care professionals, and to encourage the exchange of experiences to improve the quality of life of children undergoing treatment for cancer.”