See related article by Hakim et al.
We have witnessed markedly increased attention to the health workforce in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the last 2 decades. And with good reason. Health workers are the backbone of all health systems, and the situation is generally dire. A good write-up is found in the recent Lancet Commission on the future of health in sub-Saharan Africa.1 Some key themes:
Huge need for additional staff
Priority for primary care and prevention
Priority for a diverse set of health cadres
Equity for underserved populations
Competency-based learning
Information technology for learning
Institution strengthening and sustainability, including lifelong learning
Collaboration across countries—of both pedagogic and technical content
Addressing all this is of course a very tall order. In this issue of GHSP, we feature one helpful step addressing this immense challenge at the preservice level. Hakim and colleagues2 describe their efforts to strengthen medical education at the University of Zimbabwe, …