[Evaluation of a medical teaching programme in public health in Laos]

Specialised medical training is progressively being established in Laos at the request of the Ministry of Health. A medical teaching programme in public health has been organised by the Cooperation Committee with Laos (CCL) in collaboration with the National Institute for Public Health (INSP) and has been taking place since 1997 within the framework of Franco-Laos cooperation. At the end of the validation of the second promotion of senior medical management staff (2002-2004) and of the presentation of the first Masters in Public Health in Laos, an evaluation of this training programme was carried out with the aim of completely transferring the project over to the hands of the Laotians. The study consisted of a before and after comparison of the training's procedural criteria and a longitudinal prospective survey over the last seven months of the programme. The results of the evaluation show that the development of the training conforms to the initial project and that the knowledge acquired in public health methodology by the 12 students is satisfactory. The use of the French language was revealed as being a difficult challenge to overcome for most of the students. Moreover, the partners in Laos had a difficult time playing their role in certain organisational and educational aspects of the training programme. It would be desirable, within the perspective of establishing a Masters of Public Health in Laotian, to establish a partnership between the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) and the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FSM) to work together on the organisation of the training programme. Foreign assistance remains necessary to provide essential financial and educational support.