Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Sep 19;16(1):241.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-016-0750-x.

Training tomorrow's leaders in global health: impact of the Afya Bora Consortium Fellowship on the careers of its alumni

Aliza Monroe-Wise  1 , Yohana Mashalla  2 , Gabrielle O'Malley  3 , Neal Nathanson  4 , Esther Seloilwe  5 , Onesmus Gachuno  6 , Theresa Odero  7 , Damalie Nakanjako  8 , Nelson Sewankambo  9 , Edith Tarimo  10 , David Urassa  11 , Yukari C Manabe  12 , Susan Chapman  13 , Joachim G Voss  14 , Judith Wasserheit  15 , Carey Farquhar  16 ; Afya Bora Consortium Working Group
Affiliations

Training tomorrow's leaders in global health: impact of the Afya Bora Consortium Fellowship on the careers of its alumni

Aliza Monroe-Wise et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Effective leadership is a cornerstone of successful healthcare delivery in resource limited settings throughout the world. However, few programs in Africa prepare healthcare professionals with the leadership skills vital to the success of the healthcare systems in which they work. One such program, the Afya Bora Consortium Fellowship in Global Health Leadership, has been training health professionals since 2011. The purpose of this study was to assess what career changes, if any, the Afya Bora Fellowship's alumni have experienced since completing the fellowship, and to describe those changes.

Methods: The Afya Bora Fellowship is a multidisciplinary, one-year training program that teaches health professionals leadership skills through didactic and experiential learning in four African countries. Between January 2011 and June 2013 the consortium trained 42 nurses and doctors. In November 2013, an electronic survey was sent to all alumni to assess their performance in the workplace post-fellowship.

Results: Thirty-one (74 %) of 42 alumni completed surveys. Twenty-one (68 %) reported changes to their position at work; of those, sixteen (76 %) believed the change was due to participation in the fellowship. All alumni reported improved performance at work, and cited the application of a wide range of fellowship skills, including leadership, research, communication, and mentoring. Twenty-six (84 %) alumni spearheaded improvements in their workplaces and almost all (97 %) remained in contact with colleagues from the fellowship. Among the respondents there were five publications, nine manuscripts in preparation, and three international conference presentations.

Conclusions: Afya Bora alumni overwhelmingly reported that the one year fellowship positively influenced both their work and career trajectory. Training health professionals in leadership skills through didactic modules with the opportunity to apply learned skills at attachment sites in the Afya Bora Fellowship has an impact on performance in the workplace and the potential to improve long-term institutional capacity.

Keywords: Africa; Interprofessional; Leadership training; Transformative leadership; Transprofessional.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Program theory of change framework for the Afya Bora Fellowship. formula image =Outcomes of interest for this evaluation
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Afya Bora Consortium Fellowship structure and timeline
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Conceptual map of Afya Bora Fellowship impact
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Mullan F, Frehywot S, Omaswa F, Buch E, Chen C, Greysen R, Wassermann T, Abubakr DEE, Awases M, Boelen C, Diomande MJMI, Dovlo D, Ferro J, Hailemlak A, Iputo J, Jacobs M, Koumare AK, Mipando M, Monekosso GL, Olapade-Olaopa EO, Rugarabamu P, Sewankambo N, Ross H, Ayas H, Chale SB, Cyprien S, Cohen J, Haile-Mariam T, Hamburger E, Jolley L, Kolars JC, Kombe G, Neusy AJ. Medical schools in sub-Saharan Africa. Lancet. 2011;377(9771):1113–1121. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61961-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Working together for better health. World Health Organization (WHO); 2006. http://www.who.int/whr/2006/en/. Accessed 15 July 2015.
    1. Crisp LN. Global health capacity and workforce development: turning the world upside down. Infect Dis Clin N Am. 2011;25:359–367. doi: 10.1016/j.idc.2011.02.010. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Transformative scale up of health professional education: an effort to increase the numbers of health professionals and to strengthen their impact on population health. World Health Organization (WHO); 2011 http://www.who.int/hrh/resources/transformative_education/en/. Accessed 15 July 2015.
    1. Frenk J, Chen L, Bhutta ZA, Cohen J, Crisp N, Evans T, Fineberg H, Garcia P, Ke Y, Kelley P, Kistnasamy B, Meleis A, Naylor D, Pablos-Mendez A, Reddy S, Scrimshaw S, Sepulveda J, Serwadda D, Zurayk H. Health professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world. Lancet. 2010;376:1923–1958. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61854-5. - DOI - PubMed