Taking it to heart
Dräger and GIZ improve cardiology services for children in Bolivia
The challenge
Every year, around 3,000 babies in Bolivia are born with a heart
defect. In fact, because of the altitude, a Bolivian child is twice
as likely as a European child to be born with such a defect.
Moreover, Bolivian children and young people are prone to a range
of other heart conditions, often the result of infections related
to poverty. Many of them die because the country’s hospitals are
not equipped to diagnose and treat heart conditions in children.
Even the capital, La Paz, has a shortage of staff with specialist
skills in cardiology and the necessary medical equipment.
The solution
Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA (Dräger) was determined to do something to tackle the dramatic lack of treatment for children with
heart conditions in the Bolivian highlands. It took the decision to
donate medical equipment to the ‘El Niño’ children’s hospital in
La Paz, train staff to use it, and provide servicing and spare parts.
Dräger is a leading international medical and security technology
company and has grown from a family business to a global listed
company with more than 13,000 employees in over 190 countries
around the world.
Following initial discussions in Bolivia, what began as a one-off
initiative turned into a development partnership with the Deutsche
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
and other partners. The aim of the development partnership was
to boost the ability of the Bolivian health service to prevent,
diagnose and treat heart disease among children and young people
in the long term. The partnership represents a win-win situation:
Bolivians living in the highlands benefit from new opportunities
for diagnosis and treatment, which reduce child mortality. Meanwhile, as well as demonstrating its social responsibility, Dräger
is now able to further develop the market for medical technology
and services in Bolivia and the neighbouring Andean countries.
The development partnership forms part of develoPPP.de, a programme run by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). develoPPP.de provides financial
and technical support at the point where business opportunities
and development policy initiatives in developing countries and
emerging economies intersect. The project is being implemented
by the Bolivian children’s heart charity, ‘Fundación Cardioinfantil’.
‘Simply donating medical technology, expertise
and services would have been a one-off
initiative, but the development partnership has
enabled us to provide in-service training and
a structural health component. And that means
we are having a long-term impact on health
care in Bolivia.’
Eeva Karsta, Director of Government Relations, Dräger
Photo credits: © Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA
Contact Information
Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Jan Fraeb
T + 49 (0) 61 96 79-23 18
E [email protected]
I www.develoPPP.de
Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA
Eeva Karsta
T + 49 (0) 451-882 0
E [email protected]
I www.draeger.com
GIZ Project Coordinator Jan Fraeb says ‘What is special about
this development partnership is that an internationally successful family firm like Dräger has such a developed sense of social
responsibility and has committed itself to one of the poorest
countries in Latin America. It is also unusual that a local charity
for children with cardiovascular problems in Bolivia has taken
over responsibility for implementing the entire project.’
Our services
Dräger has provided the children’s hospital with medical equipment along with repair and maintenance services, is training the
staff to use it, and is supplying spare parts. Another key objective
of the development partnership, however, is to develop specialist
skills in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease among
children across Bolivia. This component is being overseen by the
local children’s heart charity, ‘Fundación Cardioinfantil’, with financial support from GIZ. The charity is organising training for doctors
and nurses from state hospitals in Bolivia at a referral hospital
in neighbouring Argentina. The project is also enabling diagnostic
investigations and surgical procedures to take place across the
country. At the ‘El Niño’ children’s hospital – the teaching hospital
for San Andrés University in La Paz – a cardiac surgery team
of 30 is being created. The clinical centre at Ludwig-Maximilians
University in Munich is supporting the Faculty of Medicine at
San Andrés University in providing specialist training and in
setting up cardiac surgery and intensive care departments. It has
also donated two heart-lung machines. To ensure the long-term
funding of in-service training and treatment, the Bolivian Ministry
of Health and Sports has been involved in the project from the
outset.
Published by
Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Registered Offices: Bonn and Eschborn, Germany
Sector project on Cooperation with the Private Sector/
Corporate Responsibility for Development
Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1–5
65760 Eschborn, Germany
T +49 (0) 61 96 79-0
F +49 (0) 61 96 79-11 15
E [email protected]
I www.giz.de
As at July 2016
GIZ is responsible for the content of this publication.
Impacts and results
The new diagnostic techniques and treatment opportunities and
the new cardiac surgery team have made ‘El Niño’ a leader in
children’s cardiology services in Bolivia. By the end of the project,
the aim is to carry out surgery on the first 15 children with heart
disease. With specially trained paediatricians, technicians and
nurses, the project is also creating impetus for a nationwide government programme to tackle heart disease. Dräger, meanwhile,
is benefitting from increased demand for its medical technology,
which will make it easier for the company to tap into markets in
the Andean countries in the long term. For Eeva Karsta, Director of
Government Relations at Dräger, one of the most significant outcomes of the development partnership is that ‘cooperation with
GIZ and the charity has enabled us to establish a seamless training
chain and so make a major contribution to in-service training and
capacity development at all levels, from the Ministry, hospitals,
doctors and other medical professionals, right down to parents.’
At a glance
Duration
15 August 2013 – 31 July 2016
Country
Bolivia Objective
To improve health care in the Bolivian highlands in
the areas of examination, diagnosis and treatment of
children and young people with heart disease.
Partners
Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA and GIZ
Results
• 1 89 nurses and 79 paediatricians have received
in-service training in the prevention, diagnosis and
treatment of heart disease.
• 50 professionals have been trained to use the medical
equipment provided by Dräger.
• Surgery for the first 15 children began in May 2016.
• Rates of diagnosis and treatment of heart disease
among children are up 20%.
• Two new posts have been created in a new Department
of Child Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in the
children’s hospital, with three further posts in the
pipeline.
A project of
Implemented by
On behalf of
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation
and Development (BMZ)
Division Cooperation with the Private Sector;
Sustainable Economic Policy