The mental health and well-being of health professionals is a topic that is broad, exceptionally relevant, and urgent to address. It is both a local and a global issue, and affects professionals in all stages of their careers. To explore this topic, the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education held a 1.5 day workshop. This…

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is recognized globally as the greatest health challenge of the present generation. It is widely acknowledged to be the foremost killer disease in Africa. Since the first AIDS case was publicly announced in 1986, the astronomical increase in victims has been a matter of concern. The rates of HIV/AIDS infection indicate that…

The growing enthusiasm for international engagement among U.S. universities reflects the great potential gains that participation offers to both U.S. and international partners. To ensure that the benefits of such partnerships are achieved, potential participants must carefully examine and explicitly discuss their personal and institutional…

In 2006, WHO alerted the world to a global health workforce crisis, demonstrated through critical shortages of health workers, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa (WHO in World Health Report, 2006). The objective of our study was to assess, in a participative way, the educational needs for public health and health workforce development among potential…

Current public health training infrastructure and facilitators in most developing nations are insufficient relative to public health service delivery needs. We examined five areas of student perceptions of a web-based public health learning initiative, the Peoples-uni, which focused on: reasons for enrolling, learning expectations; technical…

In this paper we focus our attention on an examination of the four-step process adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its systematic campaign to promote physically active lifestyles by older adults across the 193 WHO member states. The four steps adopted by the WHO include (1) Building Consensus Among Professionals; (2) Educating the…

AIDS continues to be a death sentence for many individuals living in South Africa where it remains the leading cause of death. Little is currently known about what it is like to experience the loss of a loved one to AIDS from the South African perspective and how to assist individuals who are living in a context vastly different from similarly…

A theoretical conceptualization of training needs assessment is developed using the example of distance education of paramedical personnel (nurses) in the developing countries of Africa. Accurate training needs analysis and a baseline survey are essential for program development. (SLD)

An international program in health professions training has involved the development of a teaching materials library by teams of African faculty authors and U.S. instructional materials specialists. Communications difficulties and differences in culture and technology have made necessary the development of ten new production and management…

In this article, I review five articles selected for this Special Issue of the "International Journal of Disability, Development and Education" on indigenous healing. I have considered the various traditions of indigenous healing, and I situate my analysis within the context of disability, development, and education. Such an analysis…

Provides an overview of the objectives, topics discussed, and needs identified at a workshop for physiologists of the Third World. Reviews the problems involved in the teaching of physiology in the Third World, especially in Africa. Offers specific recommendations for future workshops. (ML)

The educational systems of Southern African countries are described, and guidelines concerning the placement of students who wish to study in U.S. institutions are provided. Information is provided on educational levels (primary, secondary, and higher education); and types of programs (technical/vocational education, teacher training, and…

This document contains seven papers from a study of the role of distance learning approaches in enhancing the contribution of nonformal education to socioeconomic development in Africa. "Introduction" (Richard Siaciwena) presents an overview of the research project and defines key terms related to nonformal education. "Ghana: The…