I’m giving a talk about the telepathology conference which enhances the diagnosis of different diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.

How does it work?

The way it works is we normally have slides which we prepare, already stained, and then we scan them on the scanscope, the machine, and then we have an internet connection and there are some clinicians and pathologists the other side and anywhere in the world clinician pathologists can also see the slides and discuss whatever is happening.

What institutes are you working with?

I’m working for the UNC project, it’s a collaboration between the Ministry of Health in Malawi and the University of North Carolina in the US.

Do the US pathologists analysing the slides do so free of charge?

It’s for free.

Where does the funding for this project come from?

It comes from the University of North Carolina.

Is training required on the African end in order to use this procedure?

Yes, you have the training of how to operate the machine. But the challenge would be the procurement of the actual machine because it’s so expensive.

How has it benefitted patients so far?

You may want to know that in sub-Saharan Africa there are a few pathologists working on the ground. So if we don’t have a pathologist on site you can easily scan the slides and then have the pathologists from anywhere in the world consider the slides and provide a diagnosis.