A successful hybrid emergency medicine postgraduate partnership in Southern Africa

Emergency Medicine (EM) development is established worldwide and fast developing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Medical specialty development requires multiple human resources and logistics which are frequently not available in LMICs. This article describes an innovative hybrid EM specialization program in...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Megan Cox, Japhter Masunge, Heike Geduld
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020-01-01
Series:African Journal of Emergency Medicine
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211419X20300215
Description
Summary:Emergency Medicine (EM) development is established worldwide and fast developing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Medical specialty development requires multiple human resources and logistics which are frequently not available in LMICs. This article describes an innovative hybrid EM specialization program in Botswana that involved partnership with a neighbouring country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many initial problems challenged its development, but significant local and regional support led to success. Botswana graduated its first three EM specialists in 2018 and now has an ongoing and sustainable EM program. This regional partnership resulted in numerous academic, research and clinical EM developments for Botswana and SA. UB-UCT EM training Partnership Model is a novel and sustainable cross- African collaboration with significant benefits for both health systems as well as for the individual trainees. This hybrid arrangement should be considered by other LMICs looking for EM specialty training and development.
ISSN:2211-419X