ESTHER Ireland, an Irish Health Service initiative which facilitates and supports Irish health service partnerships, has granted ESTHER accreditation to Operation Childlife and Muhimbili National Hospital.   Accreditation with ESTHER Ireland indicates that a partnership is committed to quality service delivery, to influencing health policy and the creation of a sustainable partnership which will have a long-term impact on health outcomes.

Operation Childlife has been working in partnership with Muhimbili National Hospital since 2007 in collaboration with Their Lives Matter Tanzania. The work of Operation Childlife volunteers has contributed to an improvement in children’s oncology survival rates at MNH from 20% to 65%, the establishment of new services at the hospital, and the training an up-skilling of more than 20 local surgeons.

ESTHER Ireland were particularly impressed with the Volunteer Code of Conduct and Code of Medical Ethics which all Operation Childlife volunteers commit to.

Pictured are members of the Operation Childlife team and Tanzanian surgical colleagues at a reception hosted by the Irish ambassador to Tanzania, her Excellency Mary O’Neill.