User:ZahraKhos/Hirsch Institute of Tropical Medicine

The Hirsch Institute for Tropical Medicine is an institute for medical research and training in Asella in the state of Oromia in central Ethiopia. It was officially opened in 2013 as a branch of the Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectiology of the University Hospital Düsseldorf and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf by Dieter Häussinger, the director of the clinic and the institute. With 25 German and Ethiopian staff, it provides a platform for tropical medicine, infectiology, parasitology and hepatology research at an international level, serves to train Ethiopian and German physicians, scientists, medical students and other personnel, and as a base for development cooperations. The activities are carried out in close cooperation with the Arsi University in Asella, Ethiopia and the Asella Teaching Hospital, the teaching hospital of the university.

History and origins of the Institute
The decision to establish the Institute as a branch of the Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectiology of the University Hospital Düsseldorf on the premises of the Medical Faculty of the Adama Science and Technology University in Asella was taken in 2009. During a visit of Dieter Häussinger to Ethiopia, a letter of intent was signed together with the President of the Ethiopian University, Eichele, then Minister of Education of Ethiopia, D. Mekonnen, and the German Vice Ambassador to Ethiopia, M. Biontino. The construction of the institute was supported by a donation of Wolfgang Hirsch. After the conclusion of a cooperation agreement and a three-year construction phase, the institute was officially opened in 2013. After the establishment of the Arsi University in the cities of Asella and Bekoji in 2015 with the connection of the Medical Faculty in Asella, the transfer of the cooperation agreement to this new university took place. Asella Teaching Hospital, a hospital affiliated with the medical faculty as a teaching hospital, serves as a regional care center for the Arsi zone, an area with a population of approximately 3.5 million. There are specialized departments for internal medicine, gynecology including obstetrics, pediatrics and general surgery, an HIV/AIDS outpatient clinic, and other specialized outpatient clinics. The institute was built on the grounds of the Faculty of Medicine and in the immediate vicinity of the Asella Teaching Hospital.

Building and laboratory equipment
In the institute, German and Ethiopian scientists and physicians work together. The work is supported on site by a team of study nurses, laboratory assistants and administrative assistants. The building combines examination rooms, laboratories, a seminar room and offices. Equipment includes equipment for clinical examinations such as sonography, elastography, or critical fibrillation frequency analysis, laboratory analyses such as point-of-care diagnostics, hematological, blood chemistry, or molecular biology testing procedures, and various immunological, parasitological, or microbiological examination procedures, including bacterial culture procedures and resistance analysis. Safe laboratory work and reliable storage of study samples at -80 °C are made possible by a dedicated water tank and an emergency power supply via diesel generators. Two off-road vehicles are available to the institute for field work and supply runs.

Researches
The focus of clinical and translational research is in the area of hepatological, infectious and tropical medicine studies. Research focuses on chronic liver diseases, tuberculosis, sepsis, antibiotic resistance, intestinal parasitoses in HIV, epidemiology of various infectious diseases and resistance to antiretroviral therapy.

Teaching
The Institute provides a platform for the training of Ethiopian and German students, physicians and scientists. Medical students, PhD students and physicians from Germany are provided with tropical medicine education and training. Through exchange programs, scientific and medical training locally and in Germany, as well as regular practical training and lectures at the Institute and the Faculty of Medicine, the medical and scientific training of Ethiopian academics is promoted. In this context, the training of young Ethiopian scientists takes place within the framework of an international PhD program. Within the framework of a university and clinic partnership of the ESTHER initiative (Ensemble pour une Solidarité Thérapeutique Hospitalière En Réseau), training and further education in the areas of mother-child health, hospital hygiene and patient safety takes place. OthersIn September 2014, Häussinger and his colleagues at the Institute were awarded the Medical Humanitarian Award of the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation for their activities in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in the Arsi region of Ethiopia. On the initiative of the Tropical Institute, an incinerator for potentially infectious hospital waste was built on the grounds of the hospital in Asella in 2016 by the German organization "Technik ohne Grenzen" (Erlangen chapter). Donors such as the Rotary Club Düsseldorf South made it possible to equip the institute with equipment such as the powerful emergency generator or various laboratory devices.

Weblinks

 * Offizielle Website
 * Eröffnung des Hirsch Instituts für Tropenmedizin. Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf.
 * Homepage der Klinik für Gastroenterologie, Hepatologie und Infektiologie des Universitätsklinikums Düsseldorf
 * Sonderforschungsbereich 974. Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf.
 * Klinische Forschergruppe 217. Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf.

Literatur

 * Dieter Häussinger: Das Hirsch Institut für Tropenmedizin – Asella, Äthiopien. dup, Düsseldorf 2016, ISBN 978-3-95758-041-2.