Postgraduate medical specialty training for Botswana: A successful innovative partnership with South Africa

Abstract

Background. Sub-Saharan Africa has a significant shortage of healthcare providers, and educational collaborations are recommended as one of the crucial steps to increase the medical workforce.

Objectives. To describe a successful innovative postgraduate medical specialisation programme involving two neighbouring African countries, Botswana and South Africa (SA).

Methods. After lengthy consultative processes, a postgraduate training programme was approved between the University of Botswana and the Colleges of Medicine of SA (CMSA). This programme utilised a 4-year Master of Medicine (MMed) curriculum for consecutive training and examinations in both countries. Extensive collaborations with government and regulatory bodies in both countries were required to facilitate the programme.

Results. Despite initial diverse challenges, the two countries continue to support the partnership, with 40 local doctors having graduated as medical specialists since 2014, and additional MMed programmes in development for Botswana.

Conclusions. The University of Botswana and CMSA partnership model is a novel and sustainable cross-border collaboration with significant benefits for both health systems and individual trainees. It is possible to have a successful and high-quality specialisation programme without all the resources in place by being innovative and leveraging external partnerships and collaborations. This partnership hopes to encourage other developing countries to explore similar associations.