Prejudice in Health Professions Education - The Botswana Story

Abstract

Many African countries are involved in complex plans to improve health professions education as part of health sector strengthening. Global health ventures have joined in, to address the scarce human health resources through either research and/or service. These enterprises of global health have come at a huge cost to careers of trained citizens and the countries at large. Botswana is no exception. In 2010, the University of Botswana was awarded the US NIH medical education grant and partnered with excellent and well-established universities to capacitate the newly established School of Medicine. Within the Botswana health-care-sector, these same universities had established affiliate institutions to contribute to the Botswana health systems. Rather than empowering citizens, these partnerships have instead become conduits for career development of faculty and researchers from the west. Tipping the scale further, the University of Botswana leadership places the western institutions’ interests far above the interests and development of the local faculty and thereby the country at large, stalling the country’s nation building vision thereby, sustainable development goals.