Abstract
Postgraduate opportunities for health promotion and other courses allied to health are limited in sub-Saharan Africa (apart from South Africa). There are major constraints on the development of health promotion in sub-Saharan Africa, and the lack of training capacity is one of them. Although potential students can access courses in parts of the global North where health promotion is strong – Europe, North America, Australia – this option is expensive. It also takes workers away from their posts for considerable periods and can be gender-biased. This paper describes a creative educational approach where postgraduate study is taken to Africa, from the UK, in the attempt to create communities of learning and to develop a critical mass of health promotion workers, such that they can make real change to the infrastructure for health promotion and thus to the health of the populations of their countries. In studying at home however, there is a debate to be had about whether this fulfills one goal of higher study, which is to develop cross-cultural awareness and the mindset of the “global citizen”. The paper thusquestions whether it is “better” to stay local or go global. The postgraduate course we teach in Zambia and The Gambia does seem to provide this global awareness as well as enabling health promotion workers to develop their practice, and moreover it has the capacity to develop the critical mass of workers needed to create the momentum for change.
Highlights
Health Promotion and Capacity in Sub-Saharan AfricaAs providers of postgraduate education, we have seen the trend of increasingly expensive courses in developed countries such as the UK, and the decrease of scholarships, together with the difficulties of individual international students returning to their countries, enthused with new ideas, but unable to make an impact on the structures within which they work
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of running a postgraduate course in another host country, and whether by staying incountry, students miss out on a more global experience; the paper asks whether the advantage of creating a critical mass of learners outweighs other considerations
Shifting countries with a high disease burden into a more “social” model of health and away from the medical dominance of public health has been identified by African colleagues as a central task in order for health promotion to develop in Africa (Nyamwaya, 2003, 2005; Amunyunzu-Nyamongo & Nyamwaya, 2009)
Summary
Received August 1st, 2012; revised September 5th, 2012; accepted September 16th, 2012. Potential students can access courses in parts of the global North where health promotion is strong—Europe, North America, Australia—this option is expensive. It takes workers away from their posts for considerable periods and can be gender-biased. The postgraduate course we teach in Zambia and The Gambia does seem to provide this global awareness as well as enabling health promotion workers to develop their practice, and it has the capacity to develop the critical mass of workers needed to create the momentum for change
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