Boston-Africa Anesthesia Collaborative (BAAC)
Saving Lives Through Better Nurse Anesthesia Education
The Boston-Africa Anesthesia Collaborative (BAAC) is a group of anesthesia providers, nurses, and hospital/training institutions in Liberia and the United States committed to assuring accessible, high quality, safe anesthesia care in Africa. The program, founded in 2015 by Dr. Elaine Stuart-Shor, a clinician at BIDMC’s Pre-Anesthesia Testing (PAT) Division, is an innovative model for improving global health in resource poor areas as it focuses on creating a sustainable system to train home grown anesthesia providers rather than relying on international providers.
The Program is allied with the Phebe College of Health Sciences Program in Liberia. BAAC is sponsored by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Harvard Medical School, Northeastern University Nurse Anesthesia Program (NEU), and Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH).
Liberia is a country of over 4.5 million where almost all anesthesia care is provided by nurses. They are in desperate need of well-trained nurse anesthesia providers, so this program is essential for them to increase needed surgery and decrease maternal mortality through proper anesthesia care. The goal of BAAC is to build capacity for excellent anesthesia education and practice that is locally responsive, improves access to care, and improves individual and population health outcomes.
The program has been remarkably successful, with progression from a foreign faculty led program to a Liberian-owned and led program and from a diploma program to a bachelor's degree. On April 30, 2024, Phebe College of Health Sciences graduated their first group of 12 students to attain a bachelors in nurse anesthesia trained in anesthesia. This represents enormous progress since these graduates can now go out into their communities in Liberia and provide much-needed, effective and safe anesthesia care to their fellow citizens.
For more information on the program and how to get involved visit our website.
