For the first time: A team of pediatric experts from Hadassah left for Vanuatu

A team of pediatric medicine experts from Hadassah left for the first time for Vanuatu, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, and trained local teams in emergency medicine, intensive care, and medical transport. The training included advanced Israeli technologies, including virtual reality glasses, and was met with excitement from the local health minister and growing demand from the medical staff.

For the first time in history, a team of pediatric medicine experts from Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem left for Vanuatu, a remote island nation in the Pacific Ocean. The team, led by Prof. Saar Hashavia, director of the pediatrics division and deputy director of Hadassah Ein Kerem, left as part of the 'Tevel' program in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its goal: to train local teams in pediatric emergency medicine, intensive care, and medical transport – a critical field in an island nation where transporting a sick child from a remote location to a medical center is a significant logistical and medical challenge. The training, held at the central hospital in Vanuatu, included theoretical learning, practical practice, simulations, and experience with virtual reality glasses – a technology the local team encountered for the first time. The health minister of Vanuatu opened the training with excitement, and it received extensive coverage in the local media. Within a short time, the number of staff members who requested to learn and experience the advanced technologies, some based on developments by Israeli startup companies, doubled. The 'Tevel – Children' program, which has so far operated mainly in Africa, seeks to strengthen local capabilities in pediatric medicine through a long-term partnership. The article presents the team as bringing 'the beautiful face of Israeli medicine and society' – a phrasing with emotional and moral weight in the article itself, which is not quoted.