Creating a Sustainable Foundation for IR Services and Training in Sub-Saharan Africa: 5-Year Update on the Road2IR...

To evaluate the growth and quality of an interventional radiology (IR) training model designed for resource-constrained settings and implemented in Tanzania as well as its overall potential to increase access to minimally invasive procedures across the region.

IR training in Tanzania began in October 2018 through monthly deployment of visiting teaching teams for hands-on training combined with in-person and remote lectures. A competency-based 2-year Master of Science in IR curriculum was inaugurated at the nation's main teaching hospital in October 2019, with the first 2 classes graduating in 2021 and 2022. Procedural data, demographics, and clinical outcomes were collected and analyzed throughout the duration of this program.

From October 2018 to July 2022, 1,595 procedures were performed in Tanzania: 1,236 nonvascular and 359 vascular, all with local fellows as primary interventional radiologists. Of these, 97.2% were technically successful, 95.2% were without adverse events, and 28.9% were performed independently by Tanzanian fellows and faculty with no difference in adverse event and technical success rates (P = .63 and P = .90, respectively), irrespective of procedural class. Ten IR physicians graduated from this program during the study period, followed by another 3 per year going forward. Partner training programs in Uganda and Rwanda mirroring this model commenced in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

The reported training model offers a practical and effective solution to meet many of the challenges associated with the lack of access to IR in sub-Saharan Africa.