GHS-MUHAS Academic Twinning Program

GHS is embarking on a two-year planning program to develop the blueprint for a long-term institutional partnership between UCSF and Tanzania's Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). The goal of the program is to first define and then build the components and characteristics of a model institutional partnership between UCSF and MUHAS that will increase the contribution of both institutions to solving the health workforce crisis in Africa and developing a global health workforce. This program follows the twinning concept by pairing similar institutions in order to create a dynamic collaborative relationship. In mid-2007 the Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences transitioned from being a college of the University of Dar Es Salaam to become MUHAS, which received approval to appoint 200 new faculty members and acquired new land to re-house the university. The results of the planning period will provide a model for the creation of other such partnerships between US and African institutions to strengthen both institutions and benefit the populations their graduates and faculty serve.

Background

In 2005 GHS and MUHAS initiated an institutional relationship recently formalized in a signed institutional affiliation agreement. The early features of this relationship focused on medical education at MUHAS in three priority areas:

• Introducing innovative teaching methods
• Addressing the shortage of lecturers
• Enriching the clinical exposure of medical students

These initial, relatively modest, activities have been a learning experience for the partnership. Several innovative teaching and evaluation methods have been piloted and faculty and student reactions have provided a barometer of the rate of innovation that is needed and possible over coming years.

In 2006 and 2007, postdoctoral scholars from UCSF taught the undergraduate semester-long biochemistry course in the winter quarter. Under the supervision of the sole professor of biochemistry, the visiting lecturers taught weekly classes and introduced some learning innovations.

Due to limited space and a decreased surgical case load, student exposure to surgeries is quite limited. GHS and MUHAS collaborated with the Canadian Network for International Surgery (CNIS) (Canadian Network for International Surgery 2007), to develop a two-day laboratory-based emergency and surgical skill training program.

This is the foundation upon which the GHS-MUHAS Academic Twinning Program will be developed.

Director: Sarah Macfarlane, MSc, CStat, FFPH

Publications/Presentations
Building Academic Capacity in Medical Education in Tanzania