Dire Dawa University School of Medicine

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Background of the Program

Ethiopia is a nation with a low doctor to population ratio of about 1:36,158. This ratio is significantly lower than the WHO recommended standard of 1:10,000 for developing countries. In 2008/9, the country had a total of 2151 physicians, of which 934(43%) were working in Addis Ababa where only 5% of the population lives. Of the remaining 57%, most were concentrated in the main cities of the respective regions.1This situation remains unchanged today and demands educating more physicians to practice in the Ethiopian health care system, in both rural and urban settings.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) developed the Health Sector Development Program (HSDP) in which the government emphasized the need for Universal Primary Health Care Coverage. Human Resource for Health (HRH) is a corner stone for the health system to f well at all levels of service delivery. The FMOH -HRH strategy estimates that general practitioners must be trained by the year 2015 in order to meet the health needs of the country.
To scale up and transform the doctor population ratio and meet the health care needs of the country in 2008 the FMoH and FMoE proposed to develop a new national medical education curriculum which should embrace a fast-track program address uniquely Ethiopian challenges and enroll health and natural sciences’ graduates. To develop the envisioned curriculum, the National Medical and Health Science Curriculum Council established a task force with members from FMoE, FMoH, TUTAPE, five universities with medical schools( AAU, UOG, MU, HU, JU), the WHO and Jhpiego. National and international consultants with vast experience in medical education and curriculum development also contributed to the collaborative development process of the curriculum Dire Dawa University School of Medicine.
It has been half a century since medical education was started in Ethiopia. We honor the past by building to the future. The education of tomorrows’ doctors for Ethiopia demands the continual evolution of practices and the adoption of new and innovative strategies. Societal changes contribute significantly to the shaping of medical education. Added complexities include the explosion of scientific discoveries and new knowledge, the mounting burden of chronic diseases and the challenges of serving rural and remote populations. These emerging issues influence the skill sets required of contemporary Ethiopian health professionals. We need to prepare the Ethiopian medical education system for the current millennium
The program is intended to produce medical doctors equipped with the essential knowledge, skills and values to handle the problems of health care in Ethiopia. The desired candidates are Natural and Health Sciences graduates at the BSc level. The curriculum has 3 major arms that are integrated horizontal as well as vertically: Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Professional Competency Development (PCD) and the Social & Population Health (SPH) Sciences. The curriculum is organized in five major components namely: Introduction to medicine module, System based modules (including PCDs), Social and Population Health modules, Clerkship and Internship.

Dire Dawa University School of Medicine

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