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The NZSA Global Health Committee launched PACT to support the costs of training anaesthetists within the Pacific region, helping with the development of a safe, sustainable anaesthesia workforce across the Pacific.
The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery and the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists have outlined the investment required to provide safe surgery and anaesthesia globally by 2030. The Pacific needs financial support to reach this target, which you can help provide by donating small amounts each week towards in-region training at Fiji National University’s MMed Anaesthesia programme.
At our current level of regular support, we will raise $20,337 (updated monthly) across a year, which provides 34% of the costs of one trainee’s MMed Anaesthesia programme.
As it stands, the Solomon Islands alone would need to fund over 8 trainees per year (>$160,000 per year) to meet their safe surgery target. PACT is grateful for all its donors, but we know there is a vast amount more to be done. Please continue to pledge your support to create a safe and sustainable anaesthesia workforce across the Pacific.
Help provide safe anaesthesia in the Pacific, just with one coffee per week!
Help provide safe anaesthesia in the Pacific, just with one coffee per week!
Funding a Pacific Island anaesthesia trainee through the 3-year FNU MMed Anaesthesia Masters programme costs approximately NZD 20,000 per year. While Pacific Islands struggle to fund trainee development, your support can help develop a sustainable anaesthesia workforce across the Pacific.
If 77 people donate the cost of just one coffee per week to our PACT fund, we can provide the cost for one of the three years that a Pacific anaesthesia trainee will complete as part of the MMed Anaesthesia programme.
Click above to sign up for our PACT fundraising drive, to give one or two coffees a week. This is a recurring automatic payment taken weekly from your account once set up.
Your donation is received by the NZSA, who will set aside this money in a PACT-fund. The NZSA Global Health Committee will use this fund to support Pacific Island trainees in the 3-years Masters programme.
Unfortunately, as the NZSA is not recognised as an international charity, your donations will not be tax deductible as they will be spent outside of New Zealand.
We do not ask you to commit to any specific length of contribution and you are welcome to change your support at any time. Sustainable workforce planning in the Pacific is an ongoing issue, and we are looking forward to 2030 goals.
As beneficiaries of PACT’s educational grants, Pacific Island trainees submit short reports to update us on progress. Regular updates are shared in the NZSA’s newsletter and social media for updates on their work.
Read the 2023 update here.
The NZSA GHC will liaise with the FNU and the respective heads of the departments (HODs) and Ministry of Health of Pacific countries with limited anaesthesia workforce and resources. Applicants will be selected based on the need for anaesthetists, the considerations with the above stakeholders, and other relevant factors.
Improving access to anaesthesia education in the Pacific is an ongoing priority, and so your recurring donations will help provide sustainable access over the long term. Your one-off donation is also extremely welcomed, please donate to the following NZSA PACT bank account: 02-0168-0240227-008
The NZSA and ASA have supported postgraduate training in anaesthesia at the Fiji National University (FNU). Doctors that have completed a one-year diploma in anaesthesia will apply for the three-year Fiji Masters Course, which will produce anaesthetists with a degree roughly equivalent to our ANZCA Fellowship. These Consultant/Specialist Anaesthetists will have a major impact on the development of anaesthesia wherever they end up working, helping train other anaesthetists in their home countries, and developing robust anaesthesia and critical care services.
Funding trainees through this 3-year Masters programme is a huge barrier to anaesthesia development in the Pacific. As trainees and their home countries struggle to meet these costs, their stretched workforce risks burnout as anaesthetists move to other countries, change specialties, or leave medicine altogether. By creating a sustainable funding stream, the NZSA supports Pacific trainees through the Masters programme to help grow safe, sustainable anaesthesia across the Pacific.
There are a variety of scholarships that are aimed at supporting NZ/Australian trainees who are looking to engage with Pacific Anaesthesia. We’ve listed a few of these below to help you with research.
Overseas Aid Trainee Grant, NZSA: provides funding for trainees to attend the Pacific Society of Anaesthesia annual conference. Contact the NZSA for Global Health Committee information.
ANZCA Global Development Committee Scholarships, ANZCA: supports a final year ANZCA trainee to accompany a visiting team and thereby improve their knowledge and understanding of the challenges of providing anaesthesia and/or pain medicine in the developing world. Find out how to apply at ANZCA Global Development Committee Scholarships.
Sereima Bale Fellowship Programme, ASA: by the ASA Overseas Development and Education Committee (ODEC) committee. 3 months scholarships are available. The role involves teaching and clinical support for Pacific Trainee Anaesthetists based in Suva, Fiji Islands. Contact odec@asa.org.au for more information.
