Mobile Endoscopy: A Treatment and Training Model for Childhood Hydrocephalus

Hydrocephalus, largely a disease of poverty in many developing regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, becomes even more challenging to treat because of lack of trained neurosurgical personnel, inadequately equipped public health care facilities, meager resource allocation, high rates of neonatal infection, difficulty of access to tertiary care hospitals able to treat hydrocephalus, and high complication rates in patients who are able to access and receives hunting procedures. Furthermore, conventional methods of training of neurosurgeons and nursing staff to become proficient in neuroendoscopic procedures involve a lengthy period of training, often at specialized centers in Western or local Western-style institutions.