Dr. Wendy Willmore
Missionary Surgeon in Nkinga, Tanzania
A “boots on the ground” long-term missionary surgeon and surgical educator committed to improving surgical capacity in Africa by providing compassionate surgical care in low-resource settings, training the next generation of African physicians and surgical specialists and being a reliable partner for like-minded organizations.
Meet Dr. Wendy Willmore
A life dedicated to saving lives.
Dr. Willmore was drawn to Global Health at a young age and she has always loved teaching others. Largely educated in Canada, as a student and surgical trainee, she was given opportunities to serve short-term in Zaire and Kenya. The experience and mentoring she received in the mission setting made her eager to give back.
At the end of 2012, she closed her Canadian practice for a year’s worth of investigative practice, teaching and further mentorship in Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia. During this time, she was invited to be a key final piece in a 7-year plan to open a surgical training program in Arusha, Tanzania. She and her Tanzanian colleagues started the 5-year General Surgery Residency program in Arusha Lutheran Hospitals affiliated with the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons in 2014. She co-directed the program for 8 years, developing further interests in critical care, burn-scar reconstruction and point-of-care ultrasound.
At the end of 2021, it was time for new horizons. Leaving the program in the hands of her graduates, she embarked on a 2 year transitional odyssey of teaching, working and investigation in another region of Tanzania, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.
Answering the call of one of her Arusha graduates, in 2024 she moves to Nkinga Referral Hospital in Tabora Region, Tanzania, where they plan to begin another surgical residency program in the near future; training more surgeons in Africa, for Africa.
Dr. Willmore is a committed Christian and this worldview guides her work.
For every 100,000 people, Canada has 29 surgeons. The United States has 23.
Tanzania only has one.
Nkinga Referral Hospital is a mission hospital located at Nkinga Ward, Igunga District, Tabora Region, Central-Western Tanzania, owned and operated by The Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania (FPCT).
It was originally founded as a mission station in 1936 by Swedish Missionaries Ester and Erland Jonsson, then the first maternity ward was built between 1948-1949. In 1960, the facility was fully registered as a hospital, and in 1973 a nursing school was built with a grant from SIDA. In 2010, the hospital was upgraded to become a regional referral hospital.
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Capacity: 252 employees, 260 beds
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Serving an area with a population of nearly 7 million people, scattered in 6 regions and beyond
Nkinga Referral Hospital
Donate To Dr. Willmore's Work
As the past few years have proven, Global Health Equity is an important issue, not only for low-income countries, but for high-income countries as well. Sadly, our world has not learned its COVID lessons well. Rich countries in the West continue to suck skilled health care resources and providers from poorer countries elsewhere to serve their own needs.
Global Surgical inequalities are one example of this. Globally, 75% of the world’s population cannot access safe, timely, and affordable surgical care. However, this varies widely regionally. In North America, this figure is 0.2%. Contrast this with Eastern sub-saharan Africa where 99.4% find good surgical care elusive.¹
Dr. Wendy Willmore is part of a minority committed to reversing this injustice. Will you help her to be a part of the solution?
¹ Data source: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(15)70115-4/fulltext
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