🎙️ In celebration of World Oceans Day 2024, Earth Cast (Olivia Taylor) spoke with trail-blazing Rwandan freediving champion, Adrian Ndayambaje, about his journey from first learning to swim, to inspiring others to jump into the water.

In this episode, we talk about the importance of accessibility and inclusivity in pools and the ocean, the intersection of freediving and climate change, and hear stories from when Adrian was just starting out, all the way back in high school.

Adrian shares his thoughts on the importance of providing swimming-related opportunities to people of colour and those facing financial challenges, and advocates for breaking stereotypes and increasing inclusion in all aquatic sports. The discussion also touches on some of the challenges Adrian faces in the water, pollution levels in the oceans and much more.

As Rwanda’s first competitive freediver, Adrian Ndayambaje has made a splash in the global freediving arena. He holds four national records, and is a former lifeguard and currently a student and swimming instructor.

“I want to go where it's dark down there, and I want to plummet and see how far I can go." - Adrian Ndayambaje

In this episode you will learn:

• How Adrian Ndayambaje's journey began with learning to swim in high school and led him to become a lifeguard and swim coach, emphasising the importance of early swimming education.

• The impact of breaking barriers to provide access to sports for people of colour and those with financial challenges, and the changing narratives around inclusivity in swimming.

• Surprising stories from the ocean community, such as a freediving instructor who couldn't swim initially but became an expert in water safety.

• Insights into the disciplines of freediving, including Adrian's record-setting achievements and his preference for statics.

• The significance of ocean inclusivity, accessibility, and drowning prevention, featuring stories of individuals overcoming their fears and becoming comfortable in the water.

• Reflections on the balance between academics, sports, and career, and the role of community support in achieving success, while inviting listeners to share their own water stories and ideas for future episodes.

🎙️Resources

• Connect with Adrian Ndayambaje on social media:

• • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrian_ndayambaje

  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-ndayambaje-4b48031ab/

This podcast was produced by the team at Zapods Podcast Agency:

https://www.zapods.com

Connect with Olivia:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthcast_/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviaearth/

Twitter: ⁠https://x.com/earth_cast⁠

🎙️Season 3 | A Manifesto for Surgical Health in Africa *SEASON FINALE*

🎙️In this episode, ⁠@olivia_earth⁠ and Professor Bruce Biccard discuss the learnings from season three. Bruce talks about what he did not expect from his guests, the positive responses regarding tackling this topic, strategies for advocacy, and so much more!

Bruce's work in surgical outcomes in Africa has shown him that until such time as people have access to safe surgery and health equity, any attempts to address climate change and sustainability in Africa will be futile.

Through his work with many clinician investigators across Africa, and other leading experts in the field globally, Bruce has written a book to bridge the gap from academics to the public to explain what could be done to change the plight of surgical health in Africa. This podcast series discusses the draft of the book. You as a listener have the opportunity to read the draft and suggest revisions to make the book more accessible to governments, civil society and communities to ensure it achieves its goal of promoting and improving surgical health in Africa.

Bruce Biccard is Professor and Second Chair in the Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town, South Africa. His research interests include global surgery, surgical outcomes and perioperative medicine. He is a proponent of international collaborative research and works extensively with the African Perioperative Research Group (APORG). Their work has been published in high impact medical journals including The Lancet.

In his spare time Bruce is an avid ultra distance cyclist having completed iconic events such as the Race Across South Africa and the Rhino Run.

🎙To follow more of Bruce’s work and the African Perioperative Research Group, and access the draft sections of the book, please visit https://asos.org.za/index.php/book.

🎙️In this episode, Bruce speaks to Professor Salome Maswime and Dr Tinashe Chandauka about health strengthening, a manifesto for safe surgery, the principles on how to get people involved in activities in surgical care and, so much more!

🎙️To comment on the book please visit ⁠https://asos.org.za/index.php/book⁠.

Salome Maswime is the Professor and Head of the Global Surgery Division at the UCT; and an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist. She is the vice-President of the Women in Global Health South Africa; founder and President of the South African Clinician Scientists Society, and Chairperson of the Health Systems Trust board.

Tinashe Chandauka is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nandi Life Sciences LLC. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Texas Medical Center Innovation’s Accelerating Cancer Therapeutics (ACT). He holds a PhD from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar and a medical degree from the University of Cape Town (distinction and honours). He holds medical licenses in the United Kingdom and South Africa. He is a member of the board of directors of AMREF, a global Africa focused healthcare charity.

🎙️In this episode, Bruce speaks to Professors Lydia Cairncross and Wayne Morriss about advocacy for safer surgery and anaesthesia for all. They address the concerns of financing for the health care sector and political leverage - how do we make governments accountable and what strategies should we use to communicate surgical needs to politicians?

🎙️To comment on the book please visit https://asos.org.za/index.php/book.

Lydia Cairncross is Professor of Surgery and Head of Surgery at the University of Cape Town. She is an endocrine and oncology surgeon by background and brings to her surgical work and leadership, a strong equity and public health lens, seeing surgery as part of a continuity of care in the health system. She is also a Steering Committee member of the People’s Health Movement of South Africa – a global network of health activists who campaign at a grassroots and policy level for the right to health for all.

Dr Wayne Morriss is a practising anaesthesiologist and clinical associate professor in Christchurch, New Zealand. He is the current President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists. He served as Chair of the Education Committee from 2012-2016 and Director of Programmes from 2016-2020. Dr Morriss has lectured in 60+ countries worldwide. He has published articles on a range of global anaesthesia-related topics, including workforce, international standards, patient safety, and pain management education.

🎙️In this episode, Bruce speaks to Professors John and Emmanuel about resource constraints regarding Africa-wide surgery (focusing on safe anaesthesia), climate adaptation, pandemic preparedness and, so much more!

🎙️To comment on the book please visit https://asos.org.za/index.php/book.

Emmanuel Malabo Makasa is an Adjunct Professor of Global Surgery, a Public Health Epidemiologist and an Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgeon. He is the founding director  of the Southern Africa Development Community’s University of Witwatersrand based Regional hub and collaboration Centre for Surgical Healthcare Improvement (WITSSURG) based in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa and its spoke, the Centre for Surgical Hdealthcare Research (CSHR) in the Republic of Zambia. He leads SADC’s technical experts working group on surgical healthcare and he the current Secretary General of the International  Federation of Surgical Colleges (IFSC). 

Professor Makasa has extensive experience in global health diplomacy, national surgical health policy formulation and implementation and has worked as a senior health systems manager, as an academician and as a specialist clinician. He has a track record of mobilising and coordinating multiple state and none-state actor stakeholders within the United Nations Systems, the Global Health community, health professional groups and within clinical care around surgical systems improvement. He has presented on and published about safe, equitable and affordable universal access to surgical healthcare.

John G. Meara, MD, DMD, MBA is the founder and Director Emeritus of the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change (PGSSC) in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery, and the Boston Children’s Hospital Professor of Surgery in the Field of Pediatric Plastic Surgery at Harvard Medical School.  Dr. Meara serves as the Plastic Surgeon-in-Chief of the Department of Plastic & Oral Surgery and the Chair of the Medical Staff Executive Committee at Boston Children's Hospital.  He was Co-Chair of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, was a commissioner on the Lancet Global Health Commission on High-Quality Health Systems in the SDG Era, the Lancet Oncology Commission, and the Lancet Commission on Diagnostics [Twitter: @JohnMeara].

🎙️In this episode, Bruce discusses ‘collective competency’ and leadership with Dr Nicky Kalafatis and Professor Rupert Pearse. The discussion takes these concepts outside of the surgical space and into environmental health and sports and leadership.

Part 2 of the book proposes a surgical quality of care model which Bruce has called the ‘inside-out’ model. This model is based on a sequential approach to improving surgical care from within a hospital. To improve surgical care and outcomes in Africa, Bruce argues that we first need to address the personal needs of the surgical staff, such as personal health, nutrition, education and security, before they will have the emotional space to provide better care for surgical patients while at work. Once the personal needs of the staff are addressed, then education is necessary to develop a programme theory of how surgical teams can improve patient outcomes through planned interventions. As the whole surgical team is needed, from nurses to head surgeons and anaesthetists, to effectively deliver these interventions, it is important that the traditional steep hierarchy of the medical field is removed, to promote a ‘collective competency’ where everyone can contribute to providing this care. ‘Collective competency’ means we are encouraging the autonomy and agency for every team member to deliver the components of care that are needed.

Dr Nicky Kalafatis is an anaesthetist and intensivist currently working in the UK. She spent 25 years in the public health sector in South Africa and was an examiner for the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) for both Anaesthesia and Critical Care. She is passionate about teaching and training and researched ‘fitness for purpose’ of South African anaesthetists as part of her PhD. She remains involved in South African anaesthesiology and is currently reviewing the national anaesthesiology curriculum as part of the College of Anaesthetists’ review committee. Her understanding of ‘collective competence’ is one of the key principles discussed in the podcast.

Professor Rupert Pearse graduated in 1996 from St George’s Hospital Medical School, London, UK. After time working in general medicine and anaesthesia, he returned to St George’s Hospital where he developed many of his current research interests and completed his training in Intensive Care Medicine. In 2006, he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Intensive Care Medicine at Queen Mary University of London and was promoted to Professor in 2014. He gave up anaesthesia practice to concentrate on his clinical duties on the Adult Critical Care Unit at the Royal London Hospital and his research into improving patient outcomes following major surgery.

Rupert has played a leading role in a number of large multi-centre trials, and a large part of his research takes place in the global health context. Together with Prof Bruce Biccard, he is joint lead of the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Perioperative & Critical Care. He is also Director of Clinical Research for his NHS trust and university, and chairs the NIHR-HTA Commissioning Committee.

🎙️To comment on the book please visit https://asos.org.za/index.php/book.

🎙️In this episode, Bruce discusses experiences of working in Africa with Professor Sue Fawcus and Adjunct Professor Agya Prempeh. The stories they recount provide a tapestry for discussing surgical health in Africa, health equity, the ‘inverse care’ law, the relationship between surgery and primary healthcare, and its place in health systems resilience, especially in light of the profound impact of ‘climate change’ on health in Africa.

🎙️To comment on the book please visit https://asos.org.za/index.php/book.

🎙️Season 3 | A Manifesto for Surgical Health in Africa

🎙️In this episode, @olivia_earth speaks to Professor Bruce Biccard about his personal journey to advocacy for safe surgery and anaesthesia in Africa. His work in surgical outcomes in Africa has shown him that until such time as people have access to safe surgery and health equity, any attempts to address climate change and sustainability in Africa will be futile.

Bruce Biccard is Professor and Second Chair in the Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town, South Africa. His research interests include global surgery, surgical outcomes and perioperative medicine. He is a proponent of international collaborative research and works extensively with the African Perioperative Research Group (APORG). Their work has been published in high impact medical journals including The Lancet.

Through his work with many clinician investigators across Africa, and other leading experts in the field globally, he has written a book to bridge the gap from academics to the public to explain what could be done to change the plight of surgical health in Africa. This podcast series discusses the draft of the book. You as a listener have the opportunity to read the draft and suggest revisions to make the book more accessible to governments, civil society and communities to ensure it achieves its goal of promoting and improving surgical health in Africa.

In his spare time Bruce is an avid ultra distance cyclist having completed iconic events such as the Race Across South Africa and the Rhino Run.

🎙To follow more of Bruce’s work and the African Perioperative Research Group, and access the draft sections of the book, please visit https://asos.org.za/index.php/book.