The report for the School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) for the 2018/ 2019 academic year covered the period August, 2018 to July, 2019.  During the period under review, various activities including teaching and research by senior members were carried out.

The SMHS also made strives to create and enhance the international visibility of the University for Development Studies (UDS) by hosting faculties from some universities from three African countries. Faculty from the Parakou University of Benin, University of Burundi, Hope and Ngozi Universities of Burundi and Adama and Arksun Universities of Ethiopia visited from between June and July, 2019.

The main objective of the visits by these universities was to understudy the SMHS’ flagship programme, the Community Based Education and Service (COBES). The visits also culminated in the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between UDS and the Parakou University of Benin.

The School also hosted a ten-member delegation from Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) for a possible collaboration. AMPATH is a global network of academic health centers collaborating with ministries of health in low and middle-income countries to ensure essential health care for all.

Another team from AMPATH, New York, is expected to visit UDS in December, 2019 to possibly seal a deal on the partnership and sign an MoU for the commencement of the proposed project.

Philosophy and Mission

The philosophy and mission of the SMHS hinges on the mandate, method of teaching, researching and community work extension of the University. The focus of the SMHS’ programmes is to realize human development through the training of highly qualified and unique crop of health professionals who will serve with zeal in rural deprived communities in particular to improve upon the quality of life of the such communities. As an approach to achieving its Philosophy and Mission, the SMHS provides an integrative model to learning that developes health professional leaders to tackle the challenges in the health delivery system and to build healthy communities.

In doing so, the SMHS uses the Problem-Based Learning approach for the training of medical doctors and other health professionals. As part of this methodology of training, students are deployed to rural and deprived communities for four weeks where the students identify health problems, develop proposals with the community members to solve the problems identified. The students, while in the communities for the four-week period, also offer community service as well.

This form of training is known as COBES. Students in their clinical years are also deployed to district hospitals for six to eight weeks as part of the PBL system of training and community service which is the core mandate of the SMHS. The district postings also afford the students the opportunity to provide support to medical officers in those hospitals.

Also, nurse anaesthesia students spend six - eight weeks in district hospitals learning under the supervision of the anaesthetists in those hospitals. At the same time they provide anaesthesia services at the hospitals.