A new partnership for anesthesia training in Zambia: reflections on the first year

A new postgraduate anesthesiology residency program has been founded as a North-South partnership between the United Kingdom (UK) and Zambia. The project aims to train physician anesthesiologists in Lusaka in an attempt to address the high perioperative mortality associated with anesthesia as well as to provide better professional support for clinical officer anesthesiologists.

We present a detailed description of our experiences in establishing a new global health partnership and reflect on the outcomes of the first year of the training program. The formal healthcare partnership between the UK and Zambian governments began in 2009. Funded by the UK Department for International Development and managed by the Tropical Health and Education Trust, a four-year postgraduate Masters in Medicine (Anesthesia) degree was offered beginning in 2011. A volunteer faculty of consultant anesthesiologists from the United Kingdom and Canada has provided teaching support. There are plans to improve continuity by using senior UK trainees in Out Of Program attachments. To date, eight postgraduate Zambian doctors have successfully completed the first year of training and progress into their second year.

On reflection, some of the lessons learned were very specific to local circumstances and could have been appreciated only after starting the program - flexibility and responsiveness early in the program have been very necessary. Nonetheless, our findings enhance existing knowledge about establishing and conducting global health partnerships in anesthesia.