Partnership with Bugando Medical Center Builds Global Educational Experiences and Improves Pediatric Care

April 2026

At the Center for Global Pediatric Health, collaboration is a key element to their ongoing advancements to pediatric care. That collaboration is highlighted through the relationship between Bugando Medical Center (BMC) in Mwanza, Tanzania and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. The organizations have built a partnership together to cultivate global educational experiences and improve pediatric care globally. 

Lurie Children’s Hospital began their long-term relationship with Bugando Medical Center in 2006. Two decades later, this close relationship is still deeply rooted in bidirectional partnership activities. Each year, pediatric residents and pediatric faculty from BMC are invited to spend a month at Lurie Children’s Hospital observing the wards, giving grand rounds presentations, and participating in curated educational activities aimed at building skills to complement the work they do for children in Tanzania. Similarly, pediatric residents from Lurie Children’s are invited to spend a month in Tanzania learning from the care provided at BMC – both a highlight of their training and often a major reason these residents choose to train at Lurie. Hundreds of learners have participated in these experiences since their inception with the support of both Lurie Children’s Department of Pediatrics and the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health. 

Leading the project is Colleen Fant, MD, MPH, co-director of the Center for Global Pediatric Health and attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Lurie Children’s Hospital. 

"The pediatric partnership between Lurie Children's Hospital and Bugando Medical Center has become an integral part of training at both institutions,” Fant said. “Partnership-based capacity building is critical to improving the care of children globally and this program has built a deep network of pediatric providers with a global approach to the care of children both in the U.S. and Tanzania.” 

What began as an educational exchange has flourished into a deep partnership with Lurie Children’s supporting key initiatives to augment the education provided for pediatric residents at BMC and develop additional capacities in advanced pediatric care. These initiatives include simulation training in pediatric emergencies on the pediatric wards and in the emergency department, point of care ultrasound training, and increasing access of children to specialty care through a novel pediatric cardiology partnership. Beginning in 2022, prior to any pediatric cardiologist staffed at BMC, Lurie Children’s teamed up with BMC colleagues to provide additional training to the pediatric residents in pediatric heart disease and echocardiography to identify children at need for cardiac care. Now in its fifth year, more than 100 BMC pediatric residents have received training on pediatric echo, and advanced learners have received individualized education. Since BMC has no pediatric cardiac surgeons on site and only one pediatric cardiologist at this time, by equipping the pediatric residents – the front line providers in the care of children – with the ability to identify those children at need for advanced care and transfer for specialty services, the team aims to reduce the morbidity and mortality that was once guaranteed for children with heart disease in western Tanzania. 

Physicians from the Center for Global Pediatric Health provide training to pediatric residents at BugandoMedical Center in Tanzania to identify children at need for cardiac care. (The person being scanned is a paid model.)

“By combining resources from both Lurie and Bugando, we've increased the access to care for children with heart disease in Tanzania and support multiple programs aimed at increasing access to pediatric advanced and specialty care,” Fant said. 

The Center for Global Pediatric Health is a joint center between the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the Lurie Children's Hospital.

To learn more about the Center for Global Pediatric Health, visit their website. 

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