Remembering old partnerships: Networking as new medical schools within BoLeSwa countries

In southern Africa, former members of the Botswana-Lesotho-Swaziland (BoLeSwa) partnership, Botswana and Lesotho, have established their first and only publicly funded medical schools in their countries. Swaziland has a private medical school. The three countries have a long history of partnership throughthe University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (UBLS) system − a derivative of BoLeSwa. Botswana and Lesotho are also members of a newly founded Consortium of New Southern African Medical Schools (CONSAMS). The UBLS was established in Lesotho in 1964 by a royal charter, two years before the three countries gained independence. It was founded to address manpower constraints in anticipation of their independence. The three countries had agreedto concentrate on different professional trainings, as follows: Botswana in engineering, Swaziland in agriculture, and Lesotho in medicine. CONSAMS wasestablished as a unique collaborative approach involving south-south networks, which included south-north partnerships. This created an opportunity tostrengthen medical education in the region. The BoLeSwa partnership is further strengthened by participation in CONSAMS by two of the five founding members. Other members include Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. A sharing of resources through regional and international partnerships has beenestablished. The sub-Saharan African Medical School Study has examined the challenges, innovations, and emerging trends in medical education in the regionand has made recommendations on how to better share resources. CONSAMS is one innovative way of addressing these issues. Partnerships between theBoLeSwa countries have been strengthened through CONSAMS. This has afforded the new medical schools sharing of their limited resources

Prejudice in Health Professions Education - The Botswana Story

Many African countries are involved in complex plans to improve health professions education as part of health sector strengthening. Global health ventures have joined in, to address the scarce human health resources through either research and/or service. These enterprises of global health have come at a huge cost to careers of trained citizens and the countries at large. Botswana is no exception. In 2010, the University of Botswana was awarded the US NIH medical education grant and partnered with excellent and well-established universities to capacitate the newly established School of Medicine. Within the Botswana health-care-sector, these same universities had established affiliate institutions to contribute to the Botswana health systems. Rather than empowering citizens, these partnerships have instead become conduits for career development of faculty and researchers from the west. Tipping the scale further, the University of Botswana leadership places the western institutions’ interests far above the interests and development of the local faculty and thereby the country at large, stalling the country's nation building vision thereby, sustainable development goals

Remembering old partnerships: Networking as new medical schools within BoLeSwa countries

In southern Africa, former members of the Botswana-Lesotho-Swaziland (BoLeSwa) partnership, Botswana and Lesotho, have established their first and only publicly funded medical schools in their countries. Swaziland has a private medical school. The three countries have a long history of partnership throughthe University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (UBLS) system − a derivative of BoLeSwa. Botswana and Lesotho are also members of a newly founded Consortium of New Southern African Medical Schools (CONSAMS). The UBLS was established in Lesotho in 1964 by a royal charter, two years before the three countries gained independence. It was founded to address manpower constraints in anticipation of their independence. The three countries had agreedto concentrate on different professional trainings, as follows: Botswana in engineering, Swaziland in agriculture, and Lesotho in medicine. CONSAMS wasestablished as a unique collaborative approach involving south-south networks, which included south-north partnerships. This created an opportunity tostrengthen medical education in the region. The BoLeSwa partnership is further strengthened by participation in CONSAMS by two of the five founding members. Other members include Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. A sharing of resources through regional and international partnerships has beenestablished. The sub-Saharan African Medical School Study has examined the challenges, innovations, and emerging trends in medical education in the regionand has made recommendations on how to better share resources. CONSAMS is one innovative way of addressing these issues. Partnerships between theBoLeSwa countries have been strengthened through CONSAMS. This has afforded the new medical schools sharing of their limited resources