Vision: Equitable healthcare for children globally. 

Mission: Sharing expertise in paediatric care to prevent and control diseases, save lives and create a brighter future for children and young people in developing countries and Australia.

Taking Paediatrics Abroad (TPA) is a charitable, not-for-profit organisation. It initially planned to introduce face to face volunteer paediatric experts to remote Australian Aboriginal communities and developing countries. This was to be followed by ongoing consultations and mentoring through internet until an annual follow-on visit.

Due to travel bans arising from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, face to face volunteering is ‘on hold’. To continue its vision and mission, TPA moved to its ‘phase two’ which has developed into a high impact telehealth project, enabling two separate services:

·        telemedicine consultations for children in remote locations in NSW 

·        telehealth sessions enabling health professionals in developing countries to access the latest evidence-based paediatric knowledge and expertise shared from Australian experts via Zoom.

Charity Status and Outreach

Taking Paediatrics Abroad now has full charity status with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission and tax deductibility status (DGR-1). 

Australian Aboriginal Child Health Telemedicine

Following detailed consultation with the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council, which oversees all Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Services in NSW, TPA has introduced paediatricians to provide telemedicine consultation for Aboriginal children and young people in two remote regions, Coomealla in SW NSW and Moree. Both communities were desperate for paediatric expertise. 

International Telehealth 

The international telehealth project provides clinician to clinician guidance and education, rather than actual telemedicine sessions with patient consultation. Countries for our pilot year include the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Cambodia and Bangladesh. 

Overseas colleagues open most sessions with a case presentation. This is followed by discussion with an Australian expert addressing specific questions and providing latest evidence based information and guidelines. Each session moderated. On some occasions, interactive presentations on a key topic of interest have been requested.

This has given direct benefit to the medical care of children and young people through providing the latest information about investigations, treatment and ongoing management that will impact the future treatment of others. 

The telehealth project will continue as a prime focus for TPA activities. It will be augmented by face to face volunteering where appropriate such as for key clinical skills teaching.