Purpose or Case Report: Since 2008, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Department of Radiology has conducted pediatric radiology international education outreach in Ethiopia. In 2008, there was not a single Ethiopian pediatric radiologist in a country of 100 million people, where 60% of the population is under the age of 20. As such, children are a major population for diagnostic imaging and the majority of radiologists are confronted with pediatric imaging. However, there was a lack of emphasis on much-needed training of pediatric imaging in radiology residencies. With an increasing number of pediatric subspecialties, the need for adequate pediatric imaging service had grown. This was particularly true at Black Lion Hospital (BLH), the country’s main referral center, affiliated with Addis Ababa University (AAU). Radiology faculty at AAU saw value in a pediatric radiology fellowship. The partnership goals between CHOP and AAU were to support and expand the pediatric radiology component in the BLH radiology residency and to carry out regular national pediatric radiology continuing medical education. The purpose of our project was to establish an accredited local pediatric radiology fellowship training in the Department of Radiology at BLH.
Methods & Materials: Core values were to ensure sustainability and self-sufficiency and included: 1- making the local radiology staff lead the curriculum design, 2- Formal accreditation from AAU, 3- Primary site of training in Ethiopia, and, 4- On-the-job-training of faculty in a format of “teaching the teachers”.
Results: A two-year fellowship was successfully launched with its primary base in Addis Ababa, with components of distance learning, local instruction, a limited observership at CHOP, and pediatric radiology-focused research requirements. The training culminated in a final oral examination conducted by international visiting faculty. In 2017, Ethiopia graduated its first two pediatric radiologists after two years of fellowship. They are currently based at BLH, established a Pediatric Radiology Section with a director, and are actively recruiting the next fellow candidates.
Conclusions: Establishing a pediatric radiology fellowship through outreach is both doable and feasible. Our experience showed the request for a fellowship must arise from the host country. In order to optimize success, one must identify the needs of key stakeholders in the host country, engage them in the process, ensure accreditation, and base the fellowship there.