"The Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study"

Dec 01, 2010

“The Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study (SAMSS) is an examination of the state of medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa including all countries, all identified and recognized schools, and all languages of instruction. The study was undertaken to help provide a platform of understanding regarding the status, trends and present and future capacity building efforts for educators, policy makers, and international organizations.”

93 Fresh Medical Doctors Available

Popular Press

Popular Press: Cameroon Tribune Jul 07, 2008

"'I will give no deadly medicine to any person if asked, nor suggest such counsel, with purity and holiness I will carry out my duty, into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, I will treat the sick to the best of my ability, preserve patient privacy, teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation...'. This Hippocratic Oath was taken on Friday July 4, by 93 fresh doctors from the...University of Yaounde I."

A review of non-financial incentives for health worker in East and Southern Africa

Paper # 44 May 01, 2007

"This paper was commissioned by the Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET) in co-operation with the East, Central and Southern African Health Community (ECSA-HC) to inform a programme of work on 'valuing health workers' so that they are retained within the health systems. The paper reviewed evidence from published and grey (English language) literature on the use of nonfinancial incentives for health worker retention in sixteen countries..."

A systematic review of the effectiveness of training in emergency obstetric care in low-resource environments

International Journal

Apr 20, 2010

"To assess the effectiveness of training programmes aimed at improving emergency obstetric care in low-resource environments."

A.M. Dogliotti Medical College at 40 - President Recommits Government Support

Popular Press

Africa News Mar 19, 2009

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf welcomed assistance provided the A.M. Dogliotti College of Medicine of the University of Liberia by friendly countries and other international partners, but maintained that the long-term solution of the country’s health care delivery services lies in the training of more Liberian doctors to effectively carry out their national responsibility.

ABU Withdraws 78 Medical Students

Popular Press

Daily Trust 30 Aug 2009 Aug 30, 2009

"About 78 students of the Faculty of Medicine of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, were withdrawn from the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programmes. The recent result placed recently shows that 115 students have passed, 72 students would re-sit their examinations, 21 students would repeat certain classes while 78 students were withdrawn outright."

ACCESS, SOURCES AND VALUE OF NEW MEDICAL INFORMATION - VIEWS OF FINAL YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

International Journal

Trop Med Int Health. 2009 January; 14(1): 118–122 Jan 01, 2009

"Globally many doctors, particularly in low-income countries, have no formal training in using new information to improve their practice. As a first step clinicians must have access to information and so we explored reported access in graduating medical students in Nairobi."

An Increase in Rural Physicians in Difficult Circumstances

International Journal

International Family Medicine Education 41, 10 Dec 01, 2009

"In an effort to determine whether rural location of a medical school can positively impact physician distribution, the author compares the rural versus urban practice location of graduates from this rurally located private medical school with those from an urban private medical school."

Anambra to Develop Medical School

Popular Press

Aug 19, 2008

"AWKA-THE proposed medical school of Anambra State University is to be developed in phases taking into account, the basic requirements for a standard medical school and giving room for future expansion, the state governor, Mr. Peter Obi has said."

Appropriate training and retention of community doctors in rural areas: a case study from Mali

International Journal

Human Resources for Health 6:25 Nov 18, 2008

A study was undertaken of retention in rural areas in Mali. It was concluded that increasing self confidence and self esteem of rural practitioners may contribute to retention of skilled professionals in rural areas. While reorientations of curricula in training institutions are necessary, other types of professional support are needed. This experience suggests that professional associations dedicated to strengthening quality of care can contribute significantly to rural practitioners' morale

Appropriate training and retention of community doctors in rural areas: a case study from Mali

International Journal

doi:10.1186/1478-4491-6-25 Nov 18, 2008

“Training increasing self confidence and self esteem of rural practitioners may contribute to retention of skilled professionals in rural areas. While reorientations of curricula in training institutions are necessary, other types of professional support are needed. This experience suggests that professional associations dedicated to strengthening quality of care can contribute significantly to rural practitioners' morale.”

Capacity Building in Medical Education and Health Outcomes in Developing Countries: the missing link

International Journal

Education for Health, Volume 20 Issue 3 Nov 27, 2007

Finding evidence for the link between capacity building in medical education and improved health outcomes in developing countries is an important challenge. This article describes the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) Institute, a two year, part-time fellowship in medical education methodology and leadership and its evaluation as a model to bridge this gap by collecting quantitative and qualitative data on intermediary outcomes.

Changing Gender Profile of Medical Schools in South Africa

International Journal

South African medical journal Volume: 98 Jul 01, 2008

"BACKGROUND: Since 1994, higher education policy has been committed to equity of access for all, irrespective of race and gender. OBJECTIVES: We investigated progress towards these goals in the education of medical doctors, with an emphasis on gender."

Clinical role models are important in the early years of a problem-based learning curriculum

International Journal

Medical Teacher, Volume 28, Issue 1 Feb 01, 2006

“Following a comprehensive study of the role models identified by the first five years of students in a traditional medical programme, it was hypothesized that with curriculum reform clinical role models would assume greater importance earlier in the undergraduate medical programme. Indeed, when compared with their first- and second-year traditional curriculum colleagues, more problem-based learning students identified role models...For all cohorts, however, the mother was the most important rol

Community-Based Education in Nigerian Medical Schools: Students' Perspectives

International Journal

Volume 21, Issue 2 Sep 12, 2008

“Community-based education (CBE) was developed thirty years ago in response to the maldistribution of physicians and subsequent inequity of health care services across geographical areas in developed and developing countries. Several medical schools in Nigeria report adopting CBE. This study seeks to identify and describe the CBE programs in accredited Nigerian medical schools and to report students’ assessments of the knowledge and skills gained during their community-based educational experien

Compulsory service programmes for recruiting health workers in remote and rural areas: do they work?

Bull World Health Organ 2010;88:364–370 Jan 01, 2010

“Compulsory service programmes have been used worldwide as a way to deploy and retain a professional health workforce within countries. Other names for these programmes include ”obligatory”, ”mandatory”, ”required” and ”requisite.” All these different programme names refer to a country’s law or policy that governs the mandatory deployment and retention of a heath worker in the underserved and/or rural areas of the country for a certain period of time. This study identified three different types

Computers, the Internet and medical education in Africa

Medical Education 2010: 44: 485–488 Apr 09, 2010

"This study aimed to explore the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in undergraduate medical education in developing countries."

CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION: CLOSING THE GAP BETWEEN MEDICAL RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

International Journal

Benin Journal of Postgraduate Medicine Dec 01, 2009

“This review examined the importance, scope and regulation of CME activities and identified the barriers to effective CME in developing countries to include lack of motivation, time, finance and lack of access to CME facilities occasioned by underdevelopment in information and communication technology (ICT) and know-how.”

Coordinating Contributions

International Journal

Family Medicine Volume 40 No 3 Mar 01, 2008

"Medical schools in developing countries are frequently challenged by low levels of funding and shortages of academic staff. 'Twinning,' the establishment of a formal link between a department/institution in a developed country with a corresponding department/institution in the developing world, is promoted as a way to facilitate contact between developing country institutions and appropriate donor institutions."

Country Suffers Dire Lack of Medical Training Personnel and Facilities

Popular Press

Popular Press: Business Daily Sep 09, 2009

"Kenya is among 36 African countries in dire need of medical training personnel and equipment, suggesting a growing market demand for private medical training institutions. This was highlighted in a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which attested to the extent to which Sub Saharan Africa has lagged behind in the supply of medical personnel despite a 19.8 per cent growth in the number of health institutions over a five-year period."

Creating a medical school for Malawi: problems and achievements

International Journal

BMJ Volume 325 Aug 17, 2002

"A decade after developing a medical school from scratch and devising a curriculum appropriate to local conditions, Robert Broadhead, a founder member of staff and the present principal, and his colleague Adamson Muula describe how the problems have been successfully surmounted in Malawi."

Debunking Medical Education

African Journal

SAMJ Volume 96 No 5 May 01, 2006

"Students first. Medical education is for and about students! The first and most important rule is to admit the best (what this entails is a separate debate). Medical education is often accused of turning enthusiastic idealists into dumbed-down cynics. But good students will overcome all curricular impediments, while the converse applies to poor students."

Developing family medicine in South Africa: A new and important step for medical education

International Journal

Medical Teacher Vol 29 897-900 Nov 01, 2007

“This article seeks to explore some of the milestones reached in the development of the community of family medicine professionals and teachers, the roles taken by the major protagonists in the development and the way that medical education can promote and sustain the discipline.”

Doctors and Soccer Players — African Professionals on the Move

International Journal

NEJM Volume 356 No 5 Feb 01, 2007

“'It’s the same for football players as it is for doctors,' I was told by Tsiri Agbenyega, dean of the medical school in Kumasi, Ghana. 'We have to train a lot more than will end up in Ghana, because they all leave. The football players go to Europe and the doctors to America and the U.K.' Agbenyega spoke with a mixture of frustration, pride, and resignation. He was pleased that Ghanaian athletes and physicians were competitive internationally, but their success meant a loss to the country— a lo

Doctors as migratory laborers

African Journal

Volume 96 No 3 Mar 01, 2006

"Internal migration from the public to the private sector and from rural to urban areas was reported, with suffering of the disadvantaged as a result of shortage of health professionals. Large proportions of health professionals are thinking of emigrating to other countries (not surprisingly, Zimbabwe has the dubious distinction of leading this statistic). The reasons cited for migration were economic factors, institutional factors..."

Doctors Call Off Job Action

The Standard 29 August 2009 Aug 29, 2009

"DOCTORS called off their three-week long strike on Wednesday on humanitarian grounds, a letter they wrote to government has revealed. Junior doctors at the United Bulawayo Hospitals in Bulawayo first went on strike early this month and were followed by their colleagues at Harare and Parirenyatwa hospitals."

Doctors' Undergo Initiation

Popular Press

Popular Press: Mmegi/The Reporter Aug 31, 2009

"The 36 pioneering students of the School of Medicine at the University of Botswana (UB) were initiated on Friday in a highly symbolic ceremony. The students will graduate as medical doctors in 2014 after completing a five-year course."

Ebonyi Teaching Hospital Workers Suspend Strike

Popular Press

Vanguard 24 June 2009 Jun 24, 2009

"Different labour unions, except the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) of Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital (EBSUTH), who embarked on an indefinite strike since April 7, yesterday, suspended the strike on the grounds that the state government has agreed to pay an Enhanced HATISS Plus package instead of the disputed CONTIS."

Evaluating the impact of Arabization on medical students' acquisition, Gezira University, Sudan

International Journal

East Mediterr Health J. 2006;12 Suppl 2:S223-9 Jan 01, 2006

“This study aimed to assess the teaching of medicine in Arabic at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Gezira, and its impact on the academic attainments of graduates in terms of their final grade point average (GPA).”

Evaluation of relevance of the components of Pediatric Surgery residency training in West Africa

International Journal

Volume 45, Issue 4 Apr 01, 2010

"The aim of the study was to determine if pediatric surgery residency training program in West Africa addresses the realities of posttraining practice."

Every Country or State Needs Two Medical Schools

International Journal

Croat Med J. 47(4): 669–672 Aug 01, 2006

"Medical schools are an important part of health care landscape in a particular country. Although there are many obstacles to establishing medicals schools, African countries which do not have a medical school should realize the importance of their establishment. For those with a single medical school, a second school may be the solution to prevent mediocrity."

Family Medicine’s Role in Health Care Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: Uganda as an Example

International Journal

Vol. 39, No. 9 Oct 01, 2007

“…there are new efforts to improve delivery of health care by introducing family medicine in the region through decentralized health care systems. Uganda is at the forefront of these efforts and ways to integrate family physicians into the health system are still being debated. This paper reviews the potential role of family medicine/general practice in the health care systems of sub-Saharan Africa and in Uganda in particular and offers suggestions based on successes made in other countries.”

FG Appoints Boards of Teaching Hospitals

Popular Press

Feb 06, 2009

"Dr. A.Y.E. Dirisu was appointed the University Of Calabar Teaching Hospital Chairman, with Senator Abubakar H. Girei, Alhaji Umar Sani Taba and Mr. Olu Ismail as members. The University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu has Prof. Mbonu as Chairman while Dr. Dennis Oji, Senator Tari Sekibo and Columba Tari would serve as members."

Formation En Sante Publique En Afrique Subsaharienne: Enjeux Et Opportunites

International Journal

Med Trop; 64 : 595-602 Jan 01, 2004

“RÉSUMÉ • La spécialisation en santé publique est rendue complexe par le vaste champ qu’embrasse cette discipline. Plusieurs matières aussi complexes les unes que les autres concourent ainsi à cette spécialisation. Les systèmes d’éducation des pays en développement sont ainsi dans l’impossibilité de satisfaire les besoins énormes de formation adéquate en santé publique des cadres des pays de la région. Le recours aux formations dispensées dans les pays développés ne pouvait satisfaire ni en quan

FRANCE-AFRICA: Medical e-learning network launched

Popular Press

Mar 14, 2010

"Senegal is the first of 17 African and Asian countries participating in the partnership which aims to train medical professionals in specialist healthcare for mothers and children."

Ghana Medical School short of staff

Popular Press

Mar 30, 2001

"A brain drain in the country's health sector has left the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS) among the hardest hit, with only 95 academic staff presently at post, out of the required 183."

Ghana postgraduate obstetrics/gynecology collaborative residency training program: Success story and model for Africa

International Journal

Volume 189, Issue 3, Pages 692-696 Sep 01, 2003

“The success rate of the Ghanaian residents in the examination of the West African College of Surgeons has been three to four times higher than the overall pass rate. As of October 2002, the program had produced 26 specialists, all of whom are practicing in Ghana. In contrast, of 30 specialists who were trained abroad between 1960 and 1980, only 3 specialist had returned home by the end of the 1980s.”

Global Paradigm Shift in medical education: issues of concern for Africa

International Journal

Medical Teacher, Volume 29, Issue 9 & 10 Nov 01, 2007

“This article reviews key pedagogical changes and other innovations in medical education that have occurred over the last half a century as reported in the literature and identifies some of the issues that need to be addressed in Africa.”

Globalization challenges of medical education library services in Uganda

Grey Literature

World Library and Info. Congress: 74th IFLA GCC Sep 06, 2008

The paper focuses on globalization from the perspective of “information access, transfer, exchange and use”. It shows that the 21st Century African medical Library user is slowly but steadily complimenting the traditional way of accessing and sharing library resources in print format, with a more advanced electronic way, which is proving to be more efficient, but with a lot of challenges to a developing continent. The preliminary findings indicate inadequate funding as the underlying problem.

Globalization challenges of medical education library services in Uganda

Grey Literature

World Library and Information Congress, Quebec Sep 06, 2008

“The paper shows that the 21st Century African medical Library user is slowly but steadily complimenting the traditional way of accessing and sharing library resources in print format, with a more advanced electronic way, which is proving to be more efficient, but with a lot of challenges to a developing continent. Participants in this study were medical students, academic staff and librarians from three selected schools in Uganda. The preliminary findings indicate inadequate funding as the unde

Graduating doctor numbers decline

Popular Press

Mar 17, 2010

"The drop in graduates was largely the result of a decline in output at universities in provinces where the need for doctors was most acute -Limpopo, the Eastern Cape (Walter Sisulu University), and the Free State."

Group Petitions Yar'adua Over Condition of Unibuja Teaching Hospital

Popular Press

Popular Press: The Daily Trust Apr 18, 2009

"President Umaru Musa Yar'adua has been petitioned over the deplorable conditions at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja. The petition, which was made by a group known as Progressive Movement for a Better Society, PROMBES, and a copy of which was made available to Sunday Trust, urged the president to 'use his good office to reverse the illegality' which is allegedly being perpetuated at the teaching hospital."

Health Information Outreach: Experiences from the University of Zambia Medical Library

International Journal

Medical Reference Services Quarterly Issue 27 Numb Jun 01, 2008

“Access to health information for health workers in Zambia is limited and inadequate, especially to those health workers that are not affiliated with institutions such as the University of Zambia. In order to meet their information needs, it is important to devise and implement appropriate health information access methods. One such method is an Outreach Program. This article is an audit and a review of the health information outreach programs that the University of Zambia Medical Library has.."

HIV/AIDS Workforce Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Leveraging Opportunity for Long-Term Human Development

International Journal

J Int Assoc Physicians AIDS Care (Chic Ill) 2010; Jan 01, 2010

“Indeed, our three-decade long response to HIV/AIDS has yielded this paramount lesson: the energy, global attention, and resources that are being amassed to combat HIV/AIDS must be effectively leveraged to achieve broader progress in the areas of human rights, socioeconomic development, and public infrastructure, including ‘human infrastructure.’”

How has the OSD affected our state hospitals?

African Journal

Vol. 99, No. 11 Nov 01, 2009

“The long-awaited occupation-specific dispensation (OSD) process for state-employed doctors has now been concluded. The final offer, signed and accepted in the bargaining chamber despite being rejected by 92% of doctors in a SAMA survey, has not received much attention or fanfare. At the conclusion of this process, which has been drawn out over several years, many points have emerged that are extremely worrying for the future of health care in this country.”

How to bridge the gap in human resources for health

International Journal

Lancet 2004; 364: 1451–56 Oct 16, 2004

“Human resources are the crucial core of a health system, but they have been a neglected component of health-system development. The demands on health systems have escalated in low income countries, in the form of the Millennium Development Goals and new targets for more access to HIV/AIDS treatment. Human resources are in very short supply in health systems in low and middle income countries compared with high income countries or with the skill requirements of a minimum package of health interv

Improving the Quality of Nurse Practitioner Education (Botswana)

International Journal

The Nurse Pratitioner Volume 33 Number 3 Mar 01, 2008

“The FNP Program offered nurses the opportunity to acquire advance skills in diagnosis and management of common health problems in PHC settings. Because there were so few allied professionals, FNP students were trained in dentistry, minor surgery, and laboratory diagnosis. They had to be prepared to handle any emergency situation, especially if they were the only trained health professional in a remote rural village.”

In the Valley of a Thousand Hills: Doctors Needed

International Journal

Chronicals of Higher Ed, Volume 51 Number 5 Sep 24, 2004

“Rural hospitals face an extreme shortage of doctors: Fewer than a quarter of all physicians practice medicine in the countryside, where almost half of all South Africans live.” “Much of the problem can be explained by the lack of resources in rural hospitals, making the demands of the job overwhelming. But hospital administrators and medical professors also say medical schools have historically done little to prepare, or inspire, their mostly middle-class students to work in rural areas.”

Inequities in the Global Health Workforce: The Greatest Impediment to Health in Sub-Saharan Africa

International Journal

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2007, 4(2) Jun 30, 2007

“The Americas (mainly USA and Canada) are home to 14% of the world’s population, bear only 10% of the world’s disease burden, have 37% of the global health workforce and spend about 50% of the world’s financial resources for health. Conversely, sub-Saharan Africa, with about 11% of the world’s population bears over 24% of the global disease burden, is home to only 3% of the global health workforce, and spends less than 1% of the world’s financial resources on health."

Influence of the training experience of Makerere University medical and nursing graduates on willingness and competence to work in rural health facilities

International Journal

Mar 10, 2010

"This study sought to assess the influence of this training experience on students’ willingness, readiness and competence to work in rural health facilities by surveying 60 recent graduates of Makerere University Faculty of Medicine, who completed their studies during the transition from traditional to PBL curriculum."

Information seeking behavior of health sciences faculty at the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana

International Journal

International Development Volume23 No 1 Jan 01, 2007

"This paper reports on the findings of a survey questionnaire distributed to faculty of the College of Health Sciences of the University of Ghana to determine awareness of, access to, and use of the Internet and online resources, including bibliographic databases and full text journals."

LA FORMATION MEDICALE A MADAGASCAR DE 1870 A NOS JOURS

International Journal

Med. Trop. 60 • 345-347 Jan 01, 2000

“La formation médicale a débuté à Madagascar il y a 130 ans. Elle est caractérisée par quatre périodes distinctes qui épousent pratiquement les grandes périodes de l’histoire de Madagascar.”

Lack of Capacity Devatalising SA's Hospitals

African Journal

Volume 96 No 3 Mar 01, 2006

"The lowest spenders on hospital revitalisation were the Free State at 27%, the Eastern Cape at 32% and KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo at 33% each."

Madonna Varsity Graduates 17 Pioneer Medical Doctors

Popular Press

This Day 26 May 2009 May 26, 2009

"The Faculty of Medicine, Madonna University , has graduated the first batch of pioneer medical students that offered to read medicine in the Catholic University about 8 years ago."

Makerere Medical School Laboratory Wins Award

Popular Press

New Vision 12 August 2008 Aug 12, 2008

"The Medical Laboratory Observer Magazine (MLO), a USA-based monthly magazine, has ranked the Makerere University Johns Hopkins University Core laboratory at Mulago Medical School as the best in medical laboratory in 2008. It is one of the three laboratories in Africa to be accredited by the College of American Pathologists."

Medical doctors profile in Ethiopia: production, attrition and retention. In memory of 100-years Ethiopian modern medicine & the new Ethiopian millennium

International Journal

Ethiop Med J. 2008 Jan;46 Suppl 1:1-77 Jan 01, 2008

“OBJECTIVE: To review hospitals construction, medical doctors production and attrition, and to suggest alternative medical doctors retention mechanisms in the public sector and production scale up options.”

Medical education in Africa: not always a level playing field

International Journal

Medical Teacher 2007, 29 Jan 01, 2007

Notes several articles from Medical Teacher regarding the diversity of voices in African medical education.

Medical education in Nigeria

International Journal

Medical Teacher 29, 9 & 10 November 2007 Nov 22, 2007

Nigeria is the most populated black African nation, with a population of 140 million from the 2006 population census. Medical education began with the establishment of the University College Hospital, Ibadan as a College branch of the University of London in 1948. Since then four generations of medical schools have evolved. The newer medical schools adopted the curriculum of the older schools with little modification. The subsequent introduction of changes and modification in the curriculum of m

Medical Education in South Africa-Exciting times

Medical Teacher 29, 9 & 10 Nov 22, 2007

The dramatic political changes of the first ten years of democracy in South Africa have seen major shifts in vested power. Social change and political will have resulted in a new face of our medical student population. Diversity of colour, gender, religion and previously disadvantaged groups make student profiles as different as they could be from a decade ago. The forces of curriculum change, the devolution of power and resources from tertiary centres to primary care facilities and the financia

Medical Education in the Sudan: its strengths and weaknesses

International Journal

Medical Teacher, Volume 29, Issue 9 & 10 Nov 01, 2007

“This paper aims to share the experiences and lessons that have emerged from the journey of medical education in the Sudan, and explores the future need for continuing support and dialogue from international colleagues to maintain momentum.”

Medical migration and Africa: an unwanted legacy of educational change

International Journal

Medical Teacher, Volume 29, Issue 9 & 10 Nov 01, 2007

“The opportunities given for medical staff to travel, work and remain in countries other than that of their domicile or graduation have led to the phenomenon of medical migration.” “This paper suggests that it is a responsibility of medical educators throughout the world to recognize this effect and create opportunities whereby the specialty of medical education positively effects medical migration to the benefit of the less fortunate areas of the world.”

Medical School On Fast Track

Popular Press

New Era 12 March 2008 Mar 12, 2008

"A stakeholders' consultative meeting to formulate a road map towards setting up Namibia's first-ever medical school discussed full cost estimates and how the cost burden would be shared among various partners. ... Minister of Health and Social Services, Richard Kamwi, called for a swift move in establishing a medical school that will see the country attain its health targets by 2030. "

Medical school's experience with Arabization 1993-2003: Gezira University

International Journal

Eastern Mediterranean health journal Jan 01, 2005

“This paper examines the importance of teaching in the mother tongue and looks at the political decisions taken in this respect. The preparations for Arabization in the Faculty of Medicine, Gezira University (in 1993) are reviewed and the experience of implementation from 1994 to 2002 is analysed by questioning the students and professors. The successes, failures, problems and obstacles are discussed in detail. The paper concludes with discussion and recommendations on how to boost success in Ar

Medical schools in rural areas – necessity or aberration?

International Journal

Rural and Remote Health 9: 1131 Jul 21, 2009

There is major maldistribution of physicians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). While 70% of Congolese live in rural areas, relatively few doctors practice there. The purpose of this article was to analyse and compare the graduates of an urban- and a rural-located university in DRC. A higher proportion of graduates from the rural school practiced in rural areas. The results support the policy of establishing medical schools in rural areas.

Medicine Faculty Might Carry Out DNA Tests in 2010

Popular Press

Angola Press 3 March 2009 Mar 03, 2009

The Faculty of Medicine of the Agostinho Neto University (UAN) might carry out DNA tests for the first time in Angola

Mid Level Workers: High Level Bungling?

African Journal

Volume 96 No 3 Dec 01, 2006

"The ostensible reasons are that there is a big hole out there in health delivery services, there are insufficient (or unwilling) nurses and doctors to fill the void, and mid-level workers have been shown to be ideal to fill the gap."

Minister Clarifies Nsanze's Sacking

Popular Press

The New Times, 13 June 2009 Jun 13, 2009

"The Minister of Education, Daphrose Gahakwa, has dismissed threats of a possible lawsuit by Prof. Herbert Nsanze, the former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the National University of Rwanda (NUR) who was sacked last month for alleged insubordination."

Namibia: First medical school to open next year

Popular Press

Sep 13, 2009

"The senate of the University of Namibia has approved the curriculum for the country's first medical school. This means that Namibia should start training medical doctors from next year, beginning with an intake of 50 students."

Namibia: Medical School to Open Doors At UNAM

Popular Press

Aug 28, 2009

"The much-anticipated School of Medicine at the University of Namibia will officially open its doors come February 2010.Unam is currently recruiting students and applications close on September 30, 2009. Lecturers in anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, behavioral sciences and community medicine are expected to commence duty on September 1, 2009."

Niger-Delta Varsity Commissions Skills Lab

Popular Press

Mar 22, 2010

“The laboratory is expected to improve the practical learning of both staff and students of the institution and others who may want to take advantage of the facility, the first of its kind in the country.”

NIGERIA: Medical schools in crisis

Popular Press

Sep 13, 2009

“Medical academics in Nigeria have expressed concern about falling standards in doctor training. They have complained about ineffective admission policies, inadequate facilities, low remuneration and the brain drain, among other ills - and recommended actions to tackle problems at the country's 33 medical schools and produce quality medical graduates.” “One of the major problems is lack of a coherent admissions policy."

Nigerian medical graduates: where are they now?

International Journal

Volume 365, Issue 9474, Pages 1893-1900 Jun 14, 2005

“There were 468 graduates: 152 in the 1995 class, 171 in the 1996 class, and 145 in the 1997 class. We were able to locate 416 (89%). The locations of 46 graduates were unknown and six were deceased…We found that, across all three classes, about 40% of medical graduates were currently living abroad (50% for female graduates). The foreign country with the highest number of graduates was the USA, followed by the UK and Ireland. These three countries received 33–38% of graduates across all three se

NIH Partners with PEPFAR to Strengthen Medical Education in Africa

Popular Press

Mar 15, 2010

“The National Institutes of Health has announced a new initiative to strengthen medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa, in collaboration with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR. The program, called the Medical Education Partnership Initiative, is a joint effort of the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense and 19 components of NIH.”

Non-financial incentives and retention of health workers in Tanzania

Discussion Paper 61 Jul 01, 2008

"In this study, we will examine how the structural aspects of the healthcare labour market, such as continuing health sector reforms, trade liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, might have made health workers more mobile to sell their labour anywhere. Using quantitative and qualitative approaches, we will analyse individual health workers' perceptions on the ability of their employers to, for example, offer a good working environment, effectively manage training programmes..."

Non-Physician Clinicians in 47 Sub-Saharan African Countries

International Journal

The Lancet, Vol 370 Issue 9605 Dec 22, 2007

"Many countries have health-care providers who are not trained as physicians but who take on many of the diagnostic and clinical functions of medical doctors. We identified non-physician clinicians (NPCs) in 25 of 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, although their roles varied widely between countries. In nine countries, numbers of NPCs equalled or exceeded numbers of physicians. In general NPCs were trained with less cost than were physicians, and for only 3—4 years after secondary school."

Not the Easiest Place to go to Medical Scho

International Journal

Family Medicine Volume 40 No. 3 Mar 01, 2008

"The authors distributed a questionnaire in 1999 to all 441 registered medical students at the university, and 51% returned completed ones. The students had a mean age of 23, and 61% were women. Although Maputo city and province has only 6% of the country’s population, almost two thirds finished their high school education in Maputo."

One piece of the puzzle to solve the human resources for health crisis

Bull World Health Organ 2010;88:322 Jan 01, 2010

“…The majority of health workers migrate from the rural areas to the cities; and more and more leave poor countries for more attractive jobs abroad….In response to this, the World Health Organization (WHO) has established a programme of work to “increase access to health workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention”,2 with three strategic pillars: (i) building the evidence; (ii) developing policy recommendations from the evidence; and then (iii) supporting countries in…”

Performance of Academically at-Risk Medical Students in a Problem-Based Learning Programme: A Preliminary Report

International Journal

Jul 18, 2006

"The introduction of PBL at the University of Cape Town has not had a deleterious effect on the performance of academically at-risk medical students. Interim analysis suggests that retention rates and academic performance in the PBL programme are better than those achieved in the extended traditional programme."

Principles of Pedagogy in Teaching in a Diverse Medical School: The University of Capetown South Africa Medical School.

Apr 01, 2000

"This paper describes a 2-month project developed by the Sage Colleges (New York) and the University of Capetown Medical School in South Africa to help the medical faculty at the Capetown Medical School teach its newly diverse student body. The program is intended to improve student retention and it emphasizes the need for faculty to assure students coming from nonacademic backgrounds of their competence and to celebrate multicultural diversity in higher education."

Problem-based learning improves the academic performance of medical students in South Africa

International Journal

Medical Education, Vol. 39 Iss. 4, Pp 388-393 Mar 02, 2005

Overview: What is already known on this subject Problem-based learning methodology has not been shown to offer any special advantages in knowledge and skills acquisition in American and European studies. What this study adds This study shows that PBL methodology has a positive impact on students from disadvantaged educational backgrounds, reducing attrition rates and improving throughput rates.

Promoting Collaborations Between Biomedical Scholars in the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa

International Journal

Exp. Biol. Med. 2008;233:277-285 Jan 01, 2008

“The author’s aim is to encourage medical students, resident doctors, and medical school faculty to devote a part of their career to teach, acquire clinical skills, or participate in research with health professionals at teaching hospitals in Africa. After briefly describing the thinking that led the author to Nigeria 30 years ago to teach and study biochemical aspects of health problems…, he discusses some of the factors one needs to consider before entering into an international partnership, i

Remaining Challenges for Acceptance After 16 Years of Family Medicine

International Journal

Vol. 42, No. 1 Jan 01, 2009

“This article presents the results of a descriptive qualitative study using a self-administered questionnaire conducted among 60 general prac¬titioners and internal medicine spe¬cialist physicians, from public and private sectors, in one metropolitan area of South Africa just prior to the 2007 authorization of family medicine as a specialty.”

Report of the First Meeting of the Health Workforce Information Reference Group

Mar 10, 2010

“A technical meeting on strengthening health workforce information systems was held on 10–12 March 2010 in Montreux, Switzerland…The aim of this first meeting of HIRG members and stakeholders was to initiate discussion on how to promote a coordinated, harmonized and standardized approach to strengthening country health workforce information and monitoring systems to support policy, planning and research.”

Report on the WHO/PEPFAR planning meeting on scaling up nursing and medical education

Grey Literature

Oct 13, 2009

A planning meeting was held in Geneva in October, 2009 to plan and initiate a new WHO/PEPFAR collaboration to concentrate specifically on scaling up medical and nursing education in resource constrained countries. The meeting brought together a range of partners including academic institutions, professional associations and multi- and bilateral agencies to work toward developing evidence-based guidance on scale-up of medical and nursing education. This document presents the meeting's conclusion.

Rural-origin health science students at South African universities

African Journal

SAMJ Volume 99 No. 1 Jan 01, 2009

A study was undertaken to determine the proportion of rural-origin students at all medical schools in South Africa. The proportion of rural-origin students in South Africa was considerably lower than the national rural population ratio. The aothors conclude that strategies are needed to increase the number of rural-origin students in universities via preferential admission to alleviate the shortage of health professionals in rural areas.

SA Medical Schools to Rescue Zimbabwe's Aspirant Doctors

African Journal

SAMJ Volume 99 No 4 Apr 01, 2009

With Zimbabwe’s central teaching hospitals in dysfunctional collapse, South Africa’s medical schools plan to rescue 50 of the 180 stranded final-year students at the University of Zimbabwe by slotting them into their own clinical training programmes. Chris Bateman describes the circumstances that led to this decision and the institutions that have helped to accommodate the Zimbabwean students.

Sacked NUR Dean Drags Minister Gahakwa to Court

New Times 11 June 2009 Jun 11, 2009

Following last month's suspension of Dr. Nsanze by Lwakabamba citing 'serious cases of insubordination' as reported in The New Times, the former has now moved to sue the Minister of Education, Daphrose Gahakwa for what he calls 'blatant violation of his legal and contractual rights".

SAMSS Report Brief

Dec 02, 2010

“The Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study (SAMSS) is an examination of the state of medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa including all countries, all identified and recognized schools, and all languages of instruction. The study was undertaken to help provide a platform of understanding regarding the status, trends and present and future capacity building efforts for educators, policy makers, and international organizations."

Scaling Up, Saving Lives

Grey Literature

Jan 01, 2006

In 2006, the WHO alerted the world to a shortfall of 4.3 million trained health workers globally, with the worst shortages in the poorest countries. As a result, millions die or are disabled every year and the MDGs will not be achieved unless remedial action is taken. GHWA was launched in 2006, to tackle these issues. Scaling Up, Saving Lives sets out the findings and recommendations of the Task Force for Scaling Up Education and Training for Health Workers.

SOUTH AFRICA: Doctor brain drain continues

Popular Press

Aug 30, 2009

"The medical brain drain that had stripped South Africa of efficiency in running its public hospitals is continuing. The country is losing 17% of its qualifying doctors every year and, in the four years since 2005, nearly 1,000 new doctors did not register to work , according to government figures."

Striking the right balance: health workforce retention in remote and rural areas

Bull World Health Organ 2010;88:323 Jan 01, 2010

“Maldistribution is arguably the most critical workforce challenge, not only for achieving universal coverage but also for addressing inextricably linked workforce problems such as shortages and skill imbalances.2,3 In many countries, overall shortages are exacerbated, indeed even caused, by severe maldistribution.”

Students’ Attitudes Toward Primary Health Care

International Journal

Vol. 40, No. 4 Mar 01, 2008

“What happens when a medical school curriculum is changed to emphasize primary health care (PHC)? What do students think? This paper describes a qualitative approach, using focus groups and interviews, about the opinions of 82 second- to fourth-year medical students at the University of Cape Town (UCT) after the school re¬sponded in 2002 to a South African governmental white paper on the needed transformation and commitment of South Africa’s health system to PHC.”

Successes and Challenges of Malawi’s Only Medical School

International Journal

Croat Med J. 2009 April; 50(2): 189–191 Apr 01, 2009

“The successes and challenges that medical education faces in Malawi have been documented elsewhere (3-5). Let me start with the successes. The first was the very establishment of the medical school. The skepticism of the 1970s and 1980s turned into the optimism of the 1990s: Malawi currently boasts of its own medical school. In fact, the people who had argued that poor countries need not have their own medical schools were just wrong.”

Surgical Education in South Africa

International Journal

World J Surg (2009) 33:170–173 Oct 29, 2008

“Medical training has been well established in South Africa since the 1920s. This was initially undergraduate only, and specialist training required study overseas until the early 1960s. The first formal specialist training circuits were developed in conjunction with the formation of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) in 1955, which was established largely as an examination body to oversee standards of training.”

Surgical Training in East Africa

International Journal

The Lancet, Volume 363, Issue 9427 Jun 26, 2004

“Injury, like HIV infection, is a growing epidemic in east Africa, and large numbers of injured people are at risk of death or lifelong disability because of a lack of basic surgical care. WHO has recently said that without improved surgical services, up to 10% of the population will die from injury and 5% of pregnancies will result in maternal death.1”

Teaching Hospital Provides Rebate for Students

Popular Press

This Day 5 May 2009 May 05, 2009

"The Management of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), has offered a rebate to students of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), thereby facilitating the university's referring exercise, Vice- Chancellor, Prof. Attahiru Jega has said."

Teaching Psychiatry in Poor Countries: Priorities and Needs. A Description of How Mental Health is Taught to Medical Students in Malawi, Central Africa

International Journal

Education for Health, Volume 16 Number 1 Mar 01, 2003

"In developing countries poor standards of clinical service may be an obstacle to medical education. The paper outlines the inadequate mental health service in Malawi, Central Africa, which as well as failing patients obstructs the training of health workers."

The Challenge of Medical Librarianship in Africa

International Journal

World Libraries VOL. 2, NO. 1 Oct 01, 1991

“This review examined the importance, scope and regulation of CME activities and identified the barriers to effective CME in developing countries to include lack of motivation, time, finance and lack of access to CME facilities occasioned by underdevelopment in information and communication technology (ICT) and know-how.”

The changing profile of medical education in South Africa

International Journal

BMJ 2000;08:303-346 Sep 01, 2000

“Medical education in South Africa is undergoing dramatic changes in response to a variety of influences (see box 1), chief among which is the end of apartheid and the subsequent transition to democratic rule following the 1994 elections. In the apartheid era, South Africa's eight medical schools admitted students according to ethnicity and language. Three admitted only black students, three admitted only white students with a preference for Afrikaans as the language of instruction, and two admi

The feminisation of medical schools in South Africa

HSRC Review - Volume 4 - No. 4 Nov 01, 2006

“Internationally, it is widely recognised that women play an invaluable role in the medical profession – being more likely to adopt a patient-centred approach and to practise in the public service, in primary care and among the poor, along with many other advantages. But they also tend to work fewer hours. For this reason, the international studies claim, high proportions of female medical graduates can lead to problems in health-system provision.”

The flight of physicians from West Africa: Views of African physicians and implications for policy

International Journal

Social Science & Medicine 61 (2005) 1750–1760 May 31, 2005

“West African-trained physicians have been migrating from the sub-continent to rich countries, primarily the US and the UK, since medical education began in Nigeria and Ghana in the 1960s. In 2003, we visited six medical schools in West Africa to investigate the magnitude, causes and consequences of the migration…. In addition to the migration push and pull factors documented in previous literature, we learned that there is now a well-developed culture of medical migration.”

The positive Impact of Rural Medical Schools on Rural Intern Choices

May 06, 2005

“A recent article in your journal reported the positive impact of rural medical schools on rural intern choices. This is a relevant finding in making a case for the development and funding of university departments of rural health and rural clinical schools in medical schools as a long-term solution to the shortage of medical practitioners in rural clinics and hospitals.”

The Promise of Digital Libraries in Developing Countries

International Journal

Electronic Library, Volume 20 No 1 Jan 01, 2002

“For dissemination of humanitarian information, traditional publishing and distribution mechanisms have failed tragically. Whereas a US medical library subscribes to about 5,000 journals, the Nairobi University Medical School Library, long regarded as a flagship center in East Africa, receives just 20 [2]. In Brazzaville, Congo, the university has only 40 medical books and a dozen journals, all from before 1993. Digital libraries, by decoupling production and distribution costs from intellectual

There is More to Being a Doctor Than Having a Large Wallet

International Journal

Croatian Medical Journal Vol 50 Oct 01, 2009

“The Malawi College of Medicine, within the University of Malawi federal system of colleges, continues to be the only medical school in this southeastern African country. The medical school, with campuses at 3 sites – at the Mahatma Gandhi Road Campus, the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, and Mangochi – is not sufficient to produce all the medical doctors that the country needs. The country does not have another medical school, largely due to inadequate resources.”

Training Medical Students in the Community - Memoirs and Reflections of the University of Transkei Medical School

International Journal

Med Educ Online [serial online] 2006;11:2 Jan 01, 2006

“Not long after its inception, the undergraduate medical program at the University of Transkei (UNITRA) departed from the traditional hospicentric medical education approach to one tailored around a Community-Based Medical Education (CBME) curriculum adopting the Problem-based Learning (PBL) pedagogy. This article reflects on the experiences of the faculty in establishing and implementing CBME, exploring what it has meant to train medical students in the community. "

Trials and tribulations of an African-led research and capacity development programme: the case for EDCTP investments

International Journal

Tropical Medicine & International Health Volume 15 Feb 17, 2010

“We describe the initiation and establishment of The University of Zambia – University College London Medical School (UNZA-UCLMS) Research and Training Project, an entirely African scientist-led, south–north partnership. In its 16 year existence, the project, by successfully obtaining competitive grant funding, has transformed itself into one of Africa’s most productive African-led R&D programmes with training and visible research outputs. The project serves as a role model and now networks R&D

Twinning Center Launches New Partnership to Strengthen Emergency Medical Services in Ethiopia

Grey Literature

Jul 07, 2009

"The American International Health Alliance (AIHA) has established a new partnership through its HIV/AIDS Twinning Center Program that will support the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) by building critical institutional and human resource capacity in the field of emergency medicine. Established with support from CDC/Ethiopia and in close cooperation with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, this partnership is the Twinning Center’s seventh in the country."

Twinning: The Future for Sustainable Collaboration

International Journal

BJU International 89(Suppl. 1), 13-17 Jan 01, 2006

An introductory article describes the benefits, drawbacks, and potential pitfalls of twinning programs, taking as a case study a twinning program between Taunton and Somerset Hospital (in the UK) and Mnazi Moja Hospital, Zanzibar, Tanzania. It concludes that a well-designed twinning program can provide sustainable, low-cost benefits for both institutions.

UCC Admits First Batch of Medical Students

Popular Press

Jan 22, 2008

"Cape Coast — The Minister for Education, Science and Sports, Prof Dominic Kwaku Fobih has called on University of Cape Coast (UCC) authorities to create separate budget for the newly established medical school to enable government commit more funds into it."

UK to Partner Universities for Research

The Standard 11 July 2009 Jul 11, 2009

Five African countries will benefit from a US$60 million United Kingdom fund aimed at facilitating research into health and science by universities.

University of Abuja Teaching Hospital - Tug-of-War, Confusion Over New Site

Popular Press

Daily Trust 7 February 2009 Feb 07, 2009

" University of Abuja Teaching Hospital is rocked by controversy as medical students are at a loss as to where they should go for their clinical training." Medical students heaved a sigh of relief when the Federal Government in 2006 approved Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital (GSH) as the institution's teaching hospital, but almost three years after the approval was granted to run a teaching hospital, the trainee doctors do not know where to go for clinical training.

WANTED - 4,000 doctors

Popular Press

Plus News 14 July 2008 Jul 14, 2008

"Dr Clarence Mini, of Africa Health Placements, which specialises in placing public-health professionals, told a national tuberculosis conference in the port city of Durban earlier this month that more than 4,000 doctor's posts were currently unfilled in South Africa's state hospitals, while 3,000 South African-qualified doctors are working in the United Kingdom and 2,000 in the United States. "

What is medicine and what is a doctor? Medical students’ perceptions and expectations of their academic and professional career

International Journal

Volume 29: e100–e107 Jan 01, 2007

“Aim: To qualitatively explore medical students’ perceptions of medicine and doctors and their expectations of studying medicine and practising as a doctor.”

Women Doctors: Impact in Health Services in the Sudan

International Journal

Sudanese Journal of Public Health Vol. 1 (2) Apr 06, 2006

“With the increase in the number of women graduates and migration of men in Sudan, the total number of women doctors may reach two thirds or more of the total doctors in the coming 5-8 years. Women prefer to work in urban areas. This situation may leave the rural areas (65% of Sudan population) with few doctors.”

Worker retention in human resources for health: catalyzing and tracking change

Mar 01, 2009

"By understanding the factors that influence workers’ decisions to accept and remain in posts, especially in remote areas, HRH leaders can make more informed, data-driven decisions in developing retention strategies. However, senior-level policy-makers need stronger evidence from assessments to make decisions that will contribute to improving the staffing of health systems and worker morale."

Wrong schools or wrong students? The potential role of medical education in regional imbalances of the health workforce in the United Republic of Tanzania

Hum Resour Health. 2010; 8: 3 Feb 26, 2010

“The United Republic of Tanzania, like many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, faces a human resources crisis in its health sector, with a small and inequitably distributed health workforce. Rural areas and other poor regions are characterised by a high burden of disease compared to other regions of the country. At the same time, these areas are poorly supplied with human resources compared to urban areas, a reflection of the situation in the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa, where 1.3% of the wo

Yaounde I University - Faculty of Medicine Commemorates 40 Years of Existence

Popular Press

Jul 17, 2009

“When created in 1969, CUSS, as it was called, had the capacity to receive 20 students. With the passing of time, the institution has not only progressively increased its intake of students from 20 to 25, 40 and later 75 to 85 but has also changed its name to the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. According to the current Dean of the Faculty, Professor Ekoe Tetanye, they are not only celebrating 40 years but also making a balance sheet of an institution which has trained some 3,300 med

Yar'Adua Approves Varsity Hospitals Board Appointments

Popular Press

This Day 6 February 2009 Feb 06, 2009

"President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, yesterday approved appointment of chairmen and members of Management Boards of Federal University Teaching Hospitals. In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Olusegun Adeniyi, former Vice Chancellor, University of Port Harcourt, Professor Nimi Briggs, is the Chairman of the Board of University of Benin Teaching Hospital. Other members are, Barrister Eric Ogudu, Dr Augustine Ogogo and Otunba Deji Osinowo-Adeleye."