Our Work
Advancing Child Healthcare in Africa
1. Delivering low-cost, high impact neonatology services of premature and hospitalized newborns in our partner NICUs:
2. Providing specialty outpatient and inpatient pediatric care through the:
3. Mentoring doctors and nurses in pediatrics
4. Training NICU physicians & nurses through Tiny Feet Big Steps (TFBS) Neonatology Conferences
1. Delivering low-cost, high impact neonatology services of premature and hospitalized newborns in our partner NICUs:
- Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre (ALMC) NICU.
- Kivulini Hospital / Maternity Africa NICU (providing ICHA physicians).
- Potential new hospital relationships ICHA is fostering.
2. Providing specialty outpatient and inpatient pediatric care through the:
- Arusha Pediatric & Maternity Centre (APMC) - a first ever dedicated specialty centre for outpatient care of infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant women.
- Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre (ALMC) pediatric ward and clinics.
3. Mentoring doctors and nurses in pediatrics
- 7 Tanzanian doctors and 20 NICU nurses are currently supported by ICHA.
- 4 doctors in international residency programs (Kenya, South Africa, USA) that ICHA has helped reach this stage of training.
- Teaching at Pediatric Association of Tanzania and other venues.
4. Training NICU physicians & nurses through Tiny Feet Big Steps (TFBS) Neonatology Conferences
- Uniquely co-training physicians and nurses, with a strong emphasis on innovation, clinical proficiency, and actionable healthcare strategies.
- Leading the largest African Neonatology Conference in Arusha, Tanzania.
- Expanded to Ethiopia, Dec. 2025.
- Exploring expansion opportunities at the request of other countries.
- Resourcing medical staff with our Every Breath Counts Manual of Neonatal Care & Drug Doses, 3rd Ed: a 440-page neonatal care handbook offering evidence-based protocols, drug dosing, and NICU procedures for low-resource settings. It’s been distributed to nearly 250 hospitals across 25 African countries, serving as a key training tool to improve newborn survival.
Building a Model African NICU
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Over more than a decade, American pediatrician Dr. Stephen Swanson and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) team at Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre (ALMC) transformed the hospital’s NICU to offer amongst the highest level of care available in Tanzania, with survival rates rarely seen in East Africa. His team of ALMC Tanzanian doctors and NICU nurses became highly sought after as educators and healthcare workers in neonatology, demonstrating that small, premature infants weighing as little as 650 grams (1.4 pounds) could routinely survive and thrive in a low-income African NICU.
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Sharing What We've Learned
Tiny Feet, Big Steps International Neonatology Conferences
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We are focused on teaching as many hospitals as possible the lessons of the past decade. We are actively modeling a new NICU culture where doctors, nurses, and parents work together in caring for hospitalized infants. Over the previous 4 years, our International African Neonatology Conference has trained over 600 physicians and nurses from 150+ institutions and hospitals across 20 African countries!
To learn more about our Tiny Feet, Big Steps Neonatology conferences visit our TFBS conference website. |
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