Patricia Simmons

ROCHESTER, Minn. — October 17, 2012.  Mayo Clinic, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Salud Mesoamérica 2015 Initiative (SM2015) announced today a new collaboration to improve obstetric and neonatal care in Latin America, beginning in Honduras. The agreement was announced in Lima, Peru, at the international conference "Power: Women as Drivers of Growth and Social Inclusion," co-sponsored by the IDB, U.S. State Department and Peruvian Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion. Mayo Clinic will provide medical training to local specialists in two hospitals in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, using innovative educational techniques and simulation to strengthen clinicians' obstetric and neonatal expertise. The program will follow a concept known as PRIMER, for Procedural Repetition Involving Montessori-type Experience and Rehearsal, a train-the-trainer effort using simulation. The IDB and SM2015 will provide guidance and resources to develop the program, whose simulation-based training method may be applied to other medical disciplines, to other communities and eventually to other Latin American countries. "We are very excited about collaborating with the IDB and the SM2015 in expanding Mayo Clinic's long-standing commitment to the region and to global health," says Patricia Simmons, M.D., medical director of Mayo Clinic's global humanitarian program, Mayo Clinic Abroad. "It is our strong belief that the IDB's deep roots, commitment, relationships, and distribution network in the region, combined with Mayo Clinic's clinical expertise and educational resources will have a significant impact on obstetrical and neonatal care in Latin America. A building block to empowering women is to keep them healthy, and we are proud to be working on such an integral part of that empowerment."