MSF Academy

Health & research

Apr 30

Who: Doctors Without Borders

What: Strengthening local health care competencies

Where: Central African Republic, Sierra Leone and South Sudan

Project period: 2021

Web: Doctors Without Borders

Strengthening local health care competencies

The MSF Academy is implementing targeted medical and paramedical training directly into MSF projects, specifically for MSF employed staff.

Founded in 2017, the MSF Academy for Healthcare is an intersectional training initiative, designed to strengthen local medical and paramedical competencies through work-based learning and clinical mentoring, based on adapted comprehensive curriculums and innovative tools.

The MSF Academy’s ultimate goal is to bring long-lasting improvements to the quality of care provided and to progressively diminish the footprint of expatriate personnel. By assisting the local healthcare workers to reach new levels of competencies and autonomy, the MSF Academy ensures that they can immediately put in practice the learnings, thus improving the quality of care provided in the MSF-supported structures they work in, and, in the long run, to participate in the reinforcement of their country’s health system.

Bringing professional medical learning to the heart of the field reality

The countries where MSF works are affected by conflict and humanitarian crises. As a result they also suffer from severe shortages of qualified health professionals. The Ministries of Health often lack the means to adequately finance the various medical and paramedical trainings, organize practical training and induction into the profession, not to mention any continuous professional development programs for its workers. In South Sudan, the most prominent school of nurses and midwives risks to shut down due to lack of funding and in Sierra Leone, the capacity to train a new generation of health staff is nowhere near the required capacity to catch up after the devasting effects of the Ebola epidemic on the health workforce.

“The MSF Academy’s ultimate goal is to bring long-lasting improvements to the quality of care”.

Over 90 per cent of MSF staff are recruited locally in the areas we work. Nevertheless, the quality of care in MSF projects is still too dependent on expatriate presence. Even after intervening in countries for years, it remains challenging for MSF to withdraw without creating a gap in the health system, with potential severe consequences in the access to healthcare for the population.

The different initiatives

The specific groups of professionals to be trained are selected according to the operational priorities identified by MSF. The largest focus has been geared towards local healthcare workers providing nursing, midwifery or outpatient care. A second group of projects focuses on academic training for senior clinicians and medical managers within the organization. A third group of projects aims to address the issue of antibiotic resistance.

The locations in which the MSF Academy intervenes will predominantly focus on those low-income countries with the greatest health needs and disease-burdens, such as the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone and South Sudan – countries where healthcare staff often have no or very limited relevant training.

Grieg Foundation making a difference

Supported by Grieg Foundation, MSF Academy will continue to train local health workers where it’s needed the most. The funds will contribute to further development of the training initiatives provided, and to the strengthening of health competencies in low impact countries with great health needs. The support of Grieg Foundation contributes to the improvement of care provided in MSF projects, and in the reinforcement of the project countries own health systems.