CapacityPlus and the MEPI Partnership Lead the Way in Linking Medical Education and Health Systems Strengthening in Africa
CapacityPlus, working with the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Coordinating Center, is leading the design and implementation of the upcoming MEPI Medical Education Workshop: Linking Medical Education and Health Systems Strengthening, which will take place at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa on June 6-8, 2012. MEPI supports local institutions in sub-Saharan African countries that receive PEPFAR support and their partners to develop or expand and enhance models of medical education.
International medical education experts and delegates from the following US Government agencies will also be in attendance: PEPFAR, USAID, the Human Resources Service Administration, the National Institute of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of State, and the Peace Corps, along with partner representatives from PEPFAR’s MEPI and Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI).
Building high quality, cost-effective, relevant medical education initiatives is an essential component of effectively strengthening health systems to achieve positive impacts in population health. CapacityPlus provides technical assistance to MEPI and its sister program for nursing schools, the Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI). 
The MEPI Medical Education Workshop aims to provide a platform for discussing best practices and innovations in five focus areas: community-oriented education, faculty development, competency-based education, technology-assisted education, and postgraduate medical education. MEPI schools in the following countries will share their successes, challenges, and lessons learned: Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
CapacityPlus’s Dr. Kate Tulenko will speak at the opening plenary session. CapacityPlus’s Rebecca Bailey and Rachel Deussom will facilitate workshop sessions. The team will share the project’s medical education innovations and tools, including the Bottlenecks and Best-Buys Approach to assisting health professional schools in producing a larger number of qualified graduates who are capable of addressing the priority health needs of a country and the School Management Framework for strengthening the efficiency and effectiveness of medical school management. Following the workshop, CapacityPlus will work with the MEPI Coordinating Center at George Washington University to provide technical support to the 12 countries represented in the MEPI network.
Presentations from the MEPI Workshop sessions are available here.
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Map source: http://mepinetwork.org/the-network.html
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