gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: For years the globalization in all parts of life has been rapidly accelerating. International networks are becoming more and more important to stay competitive in the modern world. Globally, there is an unmet need for well-trained doctors and health professionals, and this is particularly true for the region of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Capacity building for the health professions is a major challenge for all countries, particularly those with weak economies.

Methods: This project is embedded in the CIH – Center for International Health. Its main objective is to contribute to achieve the millennium development goals 4, 5, 6 formulated by WHO.

CIH has conducted multiple faculty development workshops from one week to four weeks duration in Munich, Africa, Asia and Latin America. The overall goal is to train scientists to become excellent teachers, researchers, multipliers and change agents in the field of medical education and to enable medical teachers to develop locally applicable medical teaching methods.

Results: By Academic Teacher Trainings at LMU Munich as well as at the partner institutions more than 100 key staff members from all participating partner institutions of the Center for International Health have been taught following a train-the trainer approach. The course offers various modules related to teaching and students’ assessment including problem based learning as well as participants are asked to design their own clinical case scenarios. Surveys among all participants demonstrated the relevance and outcomes of the courses.

Discussion/conclusion: In summary, fostering individual capabilities of academic teachers from partner institutions was evident. At the institutional levels this was verified as well as the multiplier role of course graduates in their universities.

Academic Teacher Training conducted at partner institutions allow the possibility of local and regional dissemination of knowledge through South-South collaboration.