PRICE - Strengthening Health Systems through Primary Care leaders Education
WHO emphasizes that the best approach for improving the quality and coverage of essential health services and for ensuring the effective use of resources, is to invest in integrated primary health care (PHC) services. The aim of this project is to strengthening the capacity of the training and education system of Family Medicine in Zambia and Malawi.
Main content
Project general objective
is to enable the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), Malawi and the University of Zambia (School of Public Health) to increase the quantity and quality of their graduates and their education and research programs within PHC. This will establish the next generation of competent and autonomous primary care and public health professionals, and contribute to a resilient health system that can offer integrated, equitable and high quality health services.
For education, activities will comprise:
Curriculum innovation: Curriculum development training, development and revision support workshops, to strengthen the focus on primary care “systems thinking” and values, interdisciplinary skills, research and accountable leadership targeting Bachelor, Masters and PhD programs.
Community to-Clinic Bridged Training: In Malawi MMed training in FM takes place in District hospitals. In Zambia we will work closely with the MOH to develop a connection between community and facility based training to provide a whole continuum of primary care training and practice base.
For research, activities will comprise:
Annual PHC research proposal development workshops facilitated by experienced faculty researchers and supported by the University of Bergen (UiB) and/or Primafamed.
Joint supervision to build stronger teams to support students and PhD candidates
Data analysis workshops to support candidates/students after data collection
Scientific writing workshops to support candidates/students during manuscript writing to make the process more effective and improve the quality of the texts.
Project group members
| University of Bergen, Norway | |
| Project investigator, MD, PhD | Thomas Mildestvedt |
| Professor, MD | Ingvild Sandøy |
| Professor emeritus, MD | Eivind Meland |
Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), | |
| Project coordinator | Dorothee Van Breevoort |
| Stakeholders, Primafamed | Martha Makwero |
| PhD, research | Duncan Kwaitana |
| PhD, research | Luckson Dullie |
University of Zambia, Zambia | |
| Project coordinator, Post doc. | Mpundu Chikoya |
| Project coordinator | Joseph Zulu |
Stellenbosch University, South Africa | |
| Professor, coordinator Primafamed | Bob Mash |
Target groups
The project will target the following groups:
- Preservice and in-service Clinical Officers (Diploma and Bachelor degree level) who are the frontline workers in PHC
- Inservice District Health Officers (Bachelor level)
- Post internship medical graduates to enroll in the Masters of Family Medicine program
- Junior faculty members of staff who wish to pursue a doctorate (PhD) in PHC Primary Care
- Researchers and Lecturers – enhancing pedagogical skills to improve quality of education Primary care teams already working in primary care.
Project name:
Strengthening Health Systems through Primary Care leaders Education (PRICE)
Project period:
2021-2026
Funding:
Norwegian directorate for development cooperation (Norad) NORHEDII
Partners:
University of Bergen, Norway
Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), Malawi
Stellenbosch University in South Afrika will serve as supporting partner representing the coordinatiors of the sub-Saharan Primary Care and Family Medicine network (Primafamed)
