EDUCATION OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

The issue of developing leadership qualities among health professionals and incorporating leadership training programmes into the medical curriculum is lately gaining importance, but still in too few countries.   

An independent commission of 20 academic leaders from around the world  launched a report in Lancet on November 29, 2010 ( “Health Professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world”  which calls for major reform in the training of doctors and other healthcare professionals.  The report also includes recommendations for how to better equip health professionals globally for the healthcare challenges of the 21st century. 
 
The Inter Academy Medical Panel (IAMP) working  in partnership with China Medical Board and in partnership with the US Institute of Medicine has  contributed to the second phase of the Commission’s work – the dissemination of findings and advocating for professional education reform specifically in low-middle income countries (LMIC).

 
The IAMP has articulated a three phase programme of activities beginning with dissemination and in-country launches.
  • In  partnership with the CMB and Commissioners, IAMP compiled  a mini-launch pack of reports, briefing and presentation material, which was  sent to all IAMP Academy members, inviting them to express potential  interest in and ability to contribute to this project. The resulting activities are listed here below:

Sri Lanka Academy of Sciences

Individual reports from the difference academies are connected to the links below:

 

CLICK TO

DOWNLOAD

 
Copy available from IAMP Secretariat (iamp@twas.org)
 
  • in countries/regions where CMB and Commission members have held launches or  events or are planning their own launches, IAMP  ontinues to encourage   academy leadership to connect to those who have lead these efforts to identify areas of collaboration (eg., translation of the Commission Report and documents into languages in which they are not now accessible, acting as partners in country based or regional follow-up events already planned.
  • In countries/regions where the CMB and Commission have no plans for mini-launches and dissemination, IAMP  has also encouraged  specific Academy members to take responsibility individually or in partnership with other regional academies to host a launch event with the specific purpose of promoting clear understanding of the Report’s recommendations and identifying champions to lead on implementation in country(ies) or the regions
The report was the work of a global commission of medicine, nursing and public health educators and was chaired by Julio Frenk, Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, and Lincoln Chen, President of the China Medical Board. The Commission on Education of Health Professionals for the 21st Century was supported by a $300,000 contract from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2009.  
The report outlines a set of recommendations for policy makers, governments, educators and donors to address the education of health professionals for the 21st century.
 
IAMP has continued to promote the issues raised and is exploring the possibility of specific sessions on the report at network meetings in Asia and at the next ASADI meeting of all the academies of science in sub Saharan Africa.