World Spine Care Announces the Launch of New Spine Care Clinic in Botswana
BH3 World Spine Care Clinic in Gaborone, Botswana
June 15, 2021 – Gaborone, Botswana
World Spine Care (WSC) is pleased to announce the establishment of a new spine care clinic in Botswana’s Broadhurst 3 (BH3) Clinic in Gaborone, under the auspices of the Gaborone District Health Management Team (Gaborone DHMT), Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoH&W). WSC is grateful for the support of Giving Back Health Abroad, an organization with a mission to provide chiropractors with the opportunity to provide patient care to support the under-served in Botswana.
Giving Back Health Abroad was established in memory of Dr. Shannon Bloch, a Canadian chiropractor who volunteered for World Spine Care in Botswana in 2018. Shannon described her time in Botswana as transformative. “My time in Botswana was everything that I hoped it would be and so much more,” she said. “To travel is one thing but to work and be completely immersed in a different culture and community gives you a whole new perspective and truly forces you to grow as a clinician.”
Tragically, Shannon passed away in June 2019, before she was able to do all that she had set out to do. The Bloch family established Giving Back Health Abroad to appropriately honor Shannon’s passion for World Spine Care and its goal of global spinal health and serving the under-served in Botswana.
“My time in Botswana was everything that I hoped it would be and so much more.”
Giving Back Health Abroad’s support of the BH3 Clinic comes at a critical time for World Spine Care and the spine program in Botswana. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant travel restrictions, it has been difficult to operate existing World Spine Care clinics with the support of international volunteers.
However, former WSC Clinical Supervisor Mufudzi Chihambakwe has brought his clinical expertise and passion for the cause to step in and lead this new initiative. Dr. Chihambakwe is a particularly good fit for the role of Clinical Supervisor at the BH3 Clinic, as he worked with Dr. Bloch when they volunteered for World Spine Care together.
“It is an honor to be able to continue to provide patient care in Gaborone, and to establish this new World Spine Care Clinic in Dr. Bloch’s honor’’, said Dr. Chihambakwe. “To have the opportunity to support a new clinic, to do more to help the community, and build upon the great work that World Spine Care has accomplished in Botswana to date is incredible, and I look forward to the future good we can achieve together, with the MoH&W.”
The World Spine Care clinic space in the BH3 clinic was generously donated by the Gaborone DHMT, MoH&W, in Botswana. Dr. Mothusi Mogatle (Gaborone DHMT), and Dr. Vincent Setlhare (Head of Department of the Family Medicine and Public Health Medicine, at the University of Botswana); a member of WSC’s Global Spine Care Initiative Executive Committee, worked together to facilitate the initiation of the unit at the BH3 clinic.
“It is an honor to be able to continue to provide patient care in Gaborone, and to establish this new World Spine Care Clinic in Dr. Bloch’s honor.”
The establishment of the World Spine Care clinic within the BH3 facility is truly an example of the power of people coming together toward a common goal. On behalf of World Spine Care, we share our heartfelt thanks to the Bloch Family, the supporters of the Giving Back Health Abroad fund, the Botswana MoH&W, Dr. Mogatle, and Dr. Setlhare for their leadership and support, and to Dr. Chihambakwe for his dedication to making this new clinic a success.
To learn more about World Spine Care’s Botswana program click here.
