BAPS Hugh Greenwood Neonatal Surgical Skills Course: Strengthening technical excellence in paediatric surgery across COSECSA

Delivered alongside the annual COSECSA meetings, the course provides an intensive, practical introduction to fundamental neonatal surgical procedures, an area where high-quality training remains essential for improving survival and long-term outcomes.

The BAPS 'Hugh Greenwood' neonatal-surgical skills course has become a well-established global training programme. It is held routinely in collaboration with regional surgical networks such as College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA),  Pan African Paediatric Surgical Association (PAPSA), Global Initiative for Children's Surgery (GICS), Société Africaine de Chirurgie Pédiatrique (African Society of Paediatric Surgery) and Société Camerounaise de Chirurgie Pédiatrique (Cameroon Paediatric Surgeons Association) among many others.

This year’s programme brought together trainees, surgeons and faculty in a highly interactive environment that emphasised technical precision, anatomical understanding, and confidence-building in managing complex neonatal conditions. Using realistic, low-cost simulation models participants were able to practise key operative techniques in a controlled, supportive setting. Exercises such as bowel anastomosis, oesophageal atresia repair, duodenal atresia repair, and gastrostomy formation formed the core of the technical curriculum, allowing trainees to refine their handling, suturing, and decision-making skills while receiving direct feedback from faculty.

	Participants practising their neonatal surgical skills under the guidance of Dr Dennis Mazingi.
	Professor Kokila Lakhoo speaking at the Hugh Greenwood Neonatal Surgical Skills Course.

This course was made possible through the dedication of an experienced faculty team, led by Course Director Dr Dennis Mazingi, with senior facilitation from Professor Kokila Lakhoo, and invaluable contributions from Mama Ntiriwa Sekyi-Djan and Dr Jan Dixon, whose collective expertise and mentoring shaped the learning environment throughout.

A distinctive strength of the Hugh Greenwood course is its use of open-source, low-cost neonatal surgical skills models, purpose-built for this programme and designed to be replicable anywhere. Made from affordable materials but engineered with careful attention to anatomical fidelity and intuitive function, these models ensure that hospitals and training centres across the COSECSA region can adopt them independently, supporting sustainable and widely accessible skills training long after the workshop ends.

A major innovation in this year’s course was the addition of a gastroschisis module, led by Dr Zaitun Bokary and Dr Mohamed Salim, both long-time partners from the Tanzania-Oxford collaboration. Expanding beyond the traditional Hugh Greenwood curriculum, this session addressed this high-priority neonatal emergency with significant mortality in many COSECSA-region hospitals. The module walked trainees through the principles of early recognition, resuscitation, and operative strategies, and provided hands-on opportunities to practise these techniques. Developed from the seminal work on gastroschisis treatment protocols led by Dr Zaitun Bokary, Miss Naomi Wright, and many others in the region, this new component exemplifies how locally driven research can translate directly into improved training and clinical care. It also highlights the tangible impact of the Oxford–Tanzania collaboration in advancing neonatal surgical practice.

The Hugh Greenwood Neonatal Surgical Skills Course continues to serve as a cornerstone of capacity-building within COSECSA. By combining BAPS expertise, NDS support, and regional leadership, the workshop fosters a sustainable ecosystem of skill transfer and professional growth. The addition of new modules such as gastroschisis exemplifies the ongoing commitment to ensuring that the curriculum evolves alongside the needs of the region’s youngest and most vulnerable patients.

As COSECSA expands its footprint and paediatric surgical services continue to grow, NDS remains dedicated to supporting high-impact training initiatives that strengthen the safety, quality, and equity of surgical care for newborns across Africa.