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Mufuta Tshimanga, Notion Gombe, Gerald Shambira, Ndlovu Nqobile. Strengthening field epidemiology in Africa: The Zimbabwe Field Epidemiology Training Program. Pan Afr Med J. 2011;10(Supp 1):12 Key words: Epidemiology, education, training, public health, Zimbabwe, MPH program Permanent link: http://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/series/10/1/12/full Received: 31/08/2011 - Accepted: 07/12/2011 - Published: 15/12/2011 This article is published as part of the supplement "Field Epidemiology in Africa" Supplement sponsored by PAMJ and The African Field Epidemiology Network © Mufuta Tshimanga et al. The Pan African Medical Journal - ISSN 1937-8688. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Strengthening field epidemiology in Africa: The Zimbabwe Field Epidemiology Training Program
Mufuta Tshimanga1, Notion Gombe1, Gerald Shambira2, Ndlovu Nqobile2,&
1Zimbabwe Field Epidemiology Training Program, Harare, Zimbabwe, 2African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), Kampala, Uganda
&Corresponding author
Mufuta Tshimanga, Program Director, Zimbabwe Field Epidemiology Training Program, Harare, Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwe Masters in Public Health Program is a 2-year competency based training that consists of classroom teaching (30%) and on the job field training (70%). The MPH program was created in 1993 with the aim of assisting the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare create a permanent capacity to recruit, train, and employ public health practitioners to sustain the public health infrastructure. The MPH program is operated from two sites: the DCM at the College of Health Sciences, of University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and the Health Studies Office (HSO) in MOHCW. The HSO in the MOHCW oversees the operation of field training in collaboration with approved Field Supervisors at the training sites. MOHCW provides field training sites through its eight provincial medical directorates. In addition the health directorates of the major cities in the country are designated field training sites. Since 1993, the program has had 18 Cohorts trained of which three are part-time. The part-time program was initiated in 2008 with an intake of 10 trainees. Since 2003, the full time program has experienced an increase in intake with the highest intake recorded being 16 trainees in 2003. The average intake from 2003 – 2011 has been 12 trainees. A total of 169 trainees have been enrolled in the last 19 years. Of the 143 trainees enrolled by 2009, 136 (95%) have graduated. The part-time program has had one cohort graduating with 5 out 10 successfully completing the course. Since the launch of the program, the majority of the graduates have filled most of the key public health positions and even so the positions in most of the nongovernmental organisations.