Challenges and opportunities for new medical schools in Africa

www.thelancet.com/lancetgh Vol 2 December 2014 e689 schools have “a nervousness about not being seen to conform to Western educational imperatives”. This unease impels these schools to use accreditation systems from developed countries (a trend that has proven lucrative for some American educational organisations). Disfavouring this model, CONSAMS has instead innovated networks of external examiners who monitor assessment and evaluation standards at partner schools and are also developing context-appropriate accreditation standards. The CONSAMS schools have sought to promote health-worker capacitybuilding through interprofessional and transprofessional training programmes. The University of Oulu in Finland has for several years been doing interprofessional programmes with the University of Namibia School of Medicine and the Lurio University Medical School that involves students in medicine, nursing, pharmacology, and optometry working in teams within local communities. The OneStudent-One-Family programme at Lurio also includes community workers in the health-care team and is thus an example of what The Lancet report terms “transprofessional learning”. In conclusion, new medical schools that have decided to work together in consortia such as CONSAMS have strengthened their ability to face challenges and succeeded at educational innovation. The creation of networks, alliances, and consortia between medical schools should be supported as an effective strategy for health-care strengthening and capacity-building in Africa.

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