In March of 2025, the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS), hosted its annual conference at the Brackenhurst Retreat and Conference Centre in Limuru, Kenya. This two-week gathering brought together 41 surgical trainees, including PAACS’ largest-ever class of first-year residents, for an intense and inspiring time of clinical learning, spiritual formation, and community building.
PAACS is a rural-based surgery training program in African Christian hospitals, directed by board-certified surgeons. Malamulo Adventist Hospital (MAH), one of GHI’s international partner sites, is an accredited PAACS training site.
Fifty-six million people in Africa require surgical care, yet 93% of sub-Saharan Africa lacks access to safe, timely, and affordable surgical, anesthesia, and obstetric services. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are, on average, only 4.5 doctors per 10,000 individuals on the continent. Faced with limited resources and infrastructure, many young African doctors are drawn abroad by the promise of higher pay and advanced training opportunities—often resulting in a critical shortage of skilled professionals in their home countries.
PAACS is equipping a new generation of African physicians to serve their home communities. During the 2025 conference, trainees were immersed in a curriculum that included Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS), trauma care, oncology, pediatric surgery, anesthesiology, and more—alongside 15+ hours of hands-on workshops in orthopedic and surgical skills, all designed to strengthen their ability to provide high-quality care where it’s needed.
Brent Sherwin, MD, MAH's PAACS residency director, and his wife, Laura Sherwin, DDS, attended the conference. Laura reflected on the encouragement she found among the PAACS community: “It was so refreshing and uplifting to be with other godly women who just ‘get it’ as PAACS wives and missionaries.” She spoke to the spouses about Side By Side – Malamulo, a local support group for missionary women. Her testimony sparked enthusiasm among others to launch similar groups in their own communities.
Faculty and program directors were able to continue these important conversations at the conference, aligning efforts to ensure training programs meet high standards while remaining rooted in the Christian mission. Throughout the event, faculty, spouses, and children were united by a common calling—to serve sacrificially and to be Christ’s hands and feet in surgical ministry across Africa.