CHI in Moldova

Dr Legg (centre) with Prof. Sciuca (right) and her team interviewing a young adult patient.

Tony Wolstenholme explaining the CHI background to an audience of medical staff and parents.

Dr Legg and Alicia Lander (right) in clinic with a young patient and his parents.

Alicia Lander with a teenage patient demonstrating autogenic drainage to Dr Oxana Turcu who will come to the UK for further training.

After a lot of work setting things up, we made our first visit to Moldova from the 21st to the 24th of November, 2010. This page contains a summary of the trip.

The visit was arranged and coordinated by Dr Natalia Barbova, of the National Centre for Reproductive Health and Medical Genetics. During the trip we met a variety of doctors and other medical specialists, parents, child patients, and the British Ambassador. CHI's visiting team included

• Dr Julian Legg: Consultant in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine, Southampton University Hospitals Trust
• Alicia Lander : Senior Paediatric Physiotherapist in Cystic Fibrosis, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Tony Wolstenholme : CHI Chairman
• Jim Hopwood : CHI Project Manager.

The agenda included general meetings, specific clinical sessions, and presentations to staff and parents (with extra late night work by Tony and Julian to translate some of Julian's presentation into Russian).

The We identified several opportunities For CHI's future involvement in Moldova, and are already working on some of these.

1. Sweat testing for improved diagnosis: We plan to supply a suitable machine with low ongoing running costs, and assist education and improved protocols to maximize its effectiveness.
2. Multi-disciplinary team: The MDT approach is key to effective treatment. They are already working towards this but could give more attention to physio and nutrition. We will be able to help with training and letting them witness the team approach in action on a visit to the UK.
3. Nebulisers: Nebulised hypertonic saline reestablishes the lung’s normal clearance mechanisms; and reduces the need for expensive antibiotics. With support from PariMedical and sponsorship from Kim's run in the London Marathon we plan to provide appropriate nebulisers for children to use at home, reducing the need for hospital visits.
4. Peer review : Peer review is well established in the UK. The CF Trust has kindly given permission to use their questionnaire and it has been sent to Moldova for translation. Results will be shared with the Southampton team.
5. Under Diagnosis : It is likely that many cases of CF in Moldova go undiagnosed or are diagnosed very late. Early detection significantly improves length and quality of life. We hope to arrange for Dr Legg to attend a conference to raise awareness, and to pay for guidelines for distribution to family doctors and regional hospitals. We are also considering whether to assist setting up a newborn screening programme.
6. Visit to UK : We are arranging a visit to the UK for a team from Moldova. This is an essential part of any twinning. It gives them an opportunity to see the team approach at work, and observe the use and value of effective low cost techniques even in a relatively high technology society.

As you can see, several actions are already under way as a result of this visit. You can see elsewhere on this site that Kim Williams is undertaking to run in the Virgin London Marathonon behalf of CHI. Funds collected from sponsorship will be used specifically for the Nubuliser and Sweat Test machine projects in Moldova.

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