Where We Work
The NNI works in collaboration with professionals advancing neurological and neurosurgical care in Bolivia and Paraguay.
Education
The NNI is focused on international partnerships that promote bidirectional learning and the global sourcing of innovations. At the direction of our partners in Bolivia and Paraguay, we have identified areas in which the NNI as a collaborative, can work to narrow gaps in subspecialty and resident training.
The primary areas include surgical response to cerebral vascular events, micro-surgical skills training through the establishment of resident surgical skills training centers, minimally invasive neurosurgical therapies, multi-disciplinary management of neurotrauma, spine surgery, pediatric neurosurgery, and neurology.
These co-learning initiatives are implemented through partner surgeries, specialty dyad relationships, small group case discussions, fellowships, and virtual and in-person seminars conferring continuing medical education credit.
Resource Mobilization
The mission of the NNI is to address disparities in access to neurological supplies and equipment through collaborative strategies for sustainable resource mobilization. Since our work began in 2006, we have delivered high speed drills, operating microscopes, spinal instrumentation, cranial stabilization, endoscopes, ultrasonic aspirators, EEGs and many other essential neurological and neurosurgical supplies.
Research
The NNI is embarking on exciting initiatives in research. In working to improve surgical quality, we are often reminded that “if you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” In collaboration with the Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma, the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS), and Bolivian and Paraguayan Neurosurgical Societies, the NNI will work to implement neurotrauma registries to map the pre-hospital, acute in-hospital, and post-acute care of patients with traumatic brain injuries. The data collected through these registries will support long-term local and global efforts to improve care for TBI patients. These registries will also help to guide NNI programming and measure the long-term impact.
The NNI will also contribute to research on the impact of access to anti-convulsant medications for pediatric epilepsy patients. According to a 2018 article by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), more than half of people in Latin America and the Caribbean with epilepsy do not receive treatment. The NNI has developed partnerships with Bolivian hospitals and primary care providers for education and research to improve timely diagnosis and adequate treatment to reduce the incidence of epileptic episodes in Bolivian patients.
Service
A central goal of the institute is to create “pathways to care” for neurosurgical and neurological patients with limited resources. These pathways will be made through a network of allied surgeons and institutions who will assist in performing surgeries, advising, and referring patients to other allied specialists. This network is supported through the provision of resources from and consultation with U.S. doctors and institutions. In this way, the NNI and its allied doctors will strive to serve the neglected surgical patient in the same spirit of solidarity that inspires all the work of Solidarity Bridge.
Recent Blogs
A Bolivian nursing student needed highly-specialized brain surgery unavailable in the public healthcare system in his country. Read about his international journey to care and healing.