Advancing Women's Health Through UH Roe Green Center for Travel Medicine & Global Health
UH is having an impact halfway around the world through the work of Rachel Pope, MD, MPH, UH Urology Institute obstetrician/gynecologist and UH Roe Green Global Health Scholar.
Dr. Pope is fellowship-trained in global women’s health, focusing on obstetric fistula repairs that occur during childbirth. Along with reconstructive urologist Kyle Scarberry, MD, Dr. Pope traveled to Sierra Leone in December 2021 to continue training surgeons to repair obstetric fistulas, which can develop during labor when the baby gets stuck in the birth canal.
A condition that can easily be prevented in the United States through reliable access to emergency obstetric care and cesarean sections can have severe life-changing consequences for rural African women without access.
Through the UH Roe Green Center for Travel Medicine & Global Health, Dr. Pope has been awarded a $35,000 grant to develop an online training platform and app for physicians in sub-Saharan Africa. She has been creating a curriculum for those who are training in fistula repairs to enhance their mentorship with video lectures, research articles and in-person surgical coaching.
A Global Impact
Dr. Pope has already trained approximately 20 surgeons on trips to Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Malawi and Madagascar and has repaired fistulas for more than 1,000 women. By teaching surgeons about prevention of fistulas, as well as post-surgical recovery and catheter care, women in these countries will receive better health care.
According to a recent UNICEF report, women in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, more than double the global average. Less than two-thirds of births are even attended by trained health care personnel.
“We want to train more local physicians to treat this condition, so that it heals after the first surgery, which is the best way to reduce harm to these women who were already traumatized by the process that led to the fistulas,” shared Dr. Pope. “Being a Roe Green Global Health Scholar helps make this vital work possible.”
Guided by Compassion
The work of Dr. Pope and other Roe Green Global Health Scholars demonstrates a new dimension of the work conducted by the UH Roe Green Center. Her work is evidence that the UH Roe Green Center for Travel Medicine & Global Health covers more than vaccinations and check-ups for adults and children traveling abroad. In significant cases, UH is bringing its expertise to the world.
“We are so fortunate to have Dr. Pope at UH and to have support from the Roe Green Center,” said Lee Ponsky, MD, Chairman, Department of Urology; Director, UH Urology Institute; Master Clinician in Urologic Oncology; and Leo & Charlotte Goldberg Chair in Advanced Surgical Therapies. “Her dedication to global women’s health and passion for social justice is remarkable. She’s not only committed to the underserved in sub-Saharan Africa, she leads a new multi-disciplinary, clinical division for female sexual health while still doing important research and training residents. I know for a fact that Dr. Pope is improving lives around the world."
Originally The Traveler’s Clinic, the first of its kind in the country, was established in 1975 at UH in collaboration with the Division of Geographic Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The clinic was re-named the UH Roe Green Center for Travel Medicine & Global Health in recognition of philanthropist Roe Green, whose enthusiasm for exploring the world inspired her to give generous gifts in 2014 and 2019 to expand and endow UH's travel medicine program. In addition to the scholar program, travel medicine specialists provide a wide range of travel medicine and infectious disease services for travelers before and after short- or long-term domestic or international travel.
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