The Canadian Network for International Surgery (CNIS) is a non-profit organization that promotes the delivery of essential surgical care to underprivileged people in low-income countries.
Its objective is also to reduce death and disability caused by any disturbances in normal functioning of the mind or the body that would require surgery.
The BSS course is a 2-day workshop, with topics that include lymph node biopsy, tendon repair, and blood vessel anastomosis.
Through the Surgical Information Program, the CNIS supports medical school and hospital libraries in Africa by sending new or recent surgical/medical books and journals.
They have implemented surgical skills training courses in Addis Ababa, Jimma, Gondor, Mekele, and Hawassa in Ethiopia; Blantyre and Lilongwe in Malawi; Bamako, Mali; Maputo in Mozambique; Butare in Rwanda; Dar es Salaam and Moshi in Tanzania; and Mbarara and Gulu in Uganda.
The project also will have an institutional capacity-building component where surgical department staff will attend workshops in management, leadership and fund raising skills.
The project builds on results of previous efforts, which are intended to promote long-term capacity-building in obstetrical and surgical operations and care.
The learning centers will train and certify primary care physicians, surgeons, instructors, and other health professionals as well as build up the universities' own institutional capacity (fund-raising, creating linkages are examples of the needs addressed).