OUAGA vzw

Orthopaedic

Union

for Advice

and teachinG

in Africa

Orthopaedics is the medical division addressing problems of the locomotor system

OUAGA is a young organisation founded by a group of enthousiastic medical professionals. Its goal is to contribute to the enhancement of orthopaedic care in the developing world.

The base of our work is an intense cooperation with local colleagues as training local caregivers as well as adequate local background is crucial to achieve long lasting success

Since many years we have performed orthopaedic interventions in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Our work is based at the Paul VI hospital in the capital Ouagadougou. It all started as a classic, general orthopaedic mission treating (neglected) fractures, limb deformities and infections, but as time progressed, under the impulse and demand of local doctors, evolved into a specific hip project, focused on prosthetic hip replacement surgery.

Until now, the work was performed as a project of the Belgian NGO Medics Without Vacation (MWV). In 2018 this cooperation came to an end as MWV expressed its intentions to focus on prevention and primary care. The cooperation with MWV has always been fine and the termination of the project was arranged in good understanding.

Our team members however felt the need for an ongoing effort. The hospital board as well coworkers at the Paul VI hospital clearly asked for a continuation of the project. Medical orthopaedic needs remain high. These comprise the high amount of patients and complexity of problems as well as the education of surgeons, anaesthetists and nursing staff.

Therefore we made the decision to establish our own nonprofit organisation: OUAGA. Founding members are Lieven Dossche (orthopaedic surgeon, Antwerp University Hospital), Bruno Verhamme (anaesthetist, Delta Hospital Roeselare), Dirk Michiels (coworker Orthopaedic company Stryker) and Jan Noyez (orthopaedic surgeon, Delta Hospital, Roeselare)

December 2018 mission

In December 2018 the last mission in the Paul VI hospital organised by Medics without Vacation will take place. The project continuity, though, is assured: in addition to our regular work the transition to the OUAGA Paul VI project will be discussed and organised. This means that the last MWV mission is at the same time the first OUAGA mission

2018 mission team members