President Jakaya Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania laid out his vision for meaningful and sustainable progress in health care in Tanzania as well as goals for his next term in a Global Health Grand Rounds lecture at Weill Cornell Medical College April 16.

He also discussed challenges facing Tanzania, with a particular focus on health care, the advances made during his first term, the importance of international partnerships and support, and the role that health care professionals can play in attaining this goal. The lecture was organized by Weill Cornell medical students.

Kikwete is known as a leading voice in the struggle to increase the availability of quality health care in developing countries. In his own country he took the bold step of taking an HIV test on national television to destigmatize testing and promote public health.

"We cherish our relationship with the people of Tanzania and the learning opportunities that have grown from our collaborative work [there]," said Dr. Antonio M. Gotto Jr., the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Weill Cornell has been involved in Tanzania for more than 20 years -- through Weill Bugando University College of Health Sciences and the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center.

Weill Cornell alumnus Dr. Peter Le Jacq was instrumental in the founding in 2003 of Bugando University College of Health Sciences, which was renamed Weill Bugando University College of Health Sciences in 2007 in honor of benefactors Joan and Sanford Weill. Weill Bugando, which graduated its inaugural class of medical students in 2008, offers an M.D. training program, master's in medicine and diplomas in the allied health sciences. A Weill Cornell faculty committee coordinates educational exchanges between multiple Weill Cornell and Weill Bugando departments.

Weill Bugando is affiliated with Bugando Medical Centre, a 900-bed referral hospital dedicated to providing compassionate and equitable patient care to alleviate suffering in the Mwanza region.

The Weill Cornell and Weill Bugando partnership not only helps train the next generation of Tanzanian physicians but also expands the awareness and skills of Weill Cornell faculty, residents and students when they work in the resource-poor setting. Each year, about 30 NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center clinical residents visit Bugando to teach on the wards and conduct tutorials in internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, psychiatry and surgery.

Weill Cornell faculty and students also provide training and resources for the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center. Recently, a team under the direction of Dr. Roger Härtl offered equipment, technical assistance and training in neurosurgery.

"It was the first time a neurosurgeon had been inside the hospital, despite the fact that around 15 million people rely on it for specialty care," said Härtl, associate professor of neurological surgery at Weill Cornell and chief of spinal surgery and co-director of the Spine Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "Our ongoing goal is to train Tanzanian physicians to perform lifesaving spinal and brain procedures, and to overcome the barriers to neurosurgical care for patients in rural Tanzania, especially for head and spinal trauma, congenital deformities and hydrocephalus."

Weill Cornell students and faculty are active in more than 15 countries around the world, including the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Weill Cornell-affiliated GHESKIO clinic in Haiti, research collaborations in Brazil and partnerships with institutions in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Panama and Peru.