Since 2008, MedicineAfrica used technology to build capacity and strengthen health systems. Working with Somaliland institutions, THET and King’s, the programme supported clinical practice, mentoring, faculty development and research over more than a decade.
Built through partnershipInstitutions across successive programmes
MedicineAfrica brought technology into the long-term work of strengthening Somaliland’s health workforce. Its contribution grew through relationships with clinicians, universities and health partnerships, across successive programmes and funding periods.
That meant making expertise available where it was scarce, supporting professional mentoring, and helping institutions develop their own educators. It also meant adapting the technology as connectivity improved, and taking part in wider work on clinical practice, public health and workforce needs.
MedicineAfrica provided digital infrastructure and practical programme support. Somaliland institutions, King’s and THET brought their own expertise and leadership to the work.
The partnership and MedicineAfrica’s roleThe work with THET and King’s was already well established when Prepared for Practice began.
MedicineAfrica started in 2008, with Somaliland’s first medical graduates. Volunteers sustained its first five years. From January 2013, THET backed further development of the platform, with King’s clinicians teaching and mentoring alongside their Somaliland colleagues.
Regular teaching and mentoring became part of a continuing institutional relationship. By the time Prepared for Practice began, MedicineAfrica had years of experience supporting the partnership and developing its technology with Somaliland users.
Read the earlier programme reviewCase discussions and one-to-one mentoring gave clinicians continuing access to experienced colleagues. THET’s review recorded reduced professional isolation, exposure to teaching beyond the local curriculum and research published with Somaliland authors.
Mentoring and professional exchangeThe earlier partnership combined faculty support, leadership, project management and clinical audit. In 2014, THET recorded audit training for 30 Amoud faculty, supervisors, interns and lecturers, and visits by 33 King’s health professionals providing training and mentoring.
THET’s record of the partnershipThe new MedicineAfrica platform launched after feedback and testing with Amoud and Hargeisa students. Online exchange gave the partnership a way to maintain professional contact between in-country teaching visits.
The platform and its local developmentMedicineAfrica activity recorded by THET
By 2014/15, MedicineAfrica offered 21 courses and involved 155 Somaliland participants and 80 UK volunteers. Its 105 tutorials provided 158 hours of teaching in that academic year.
| Academic year | Courses | Somaliland participants |
|---|---|---|
| 2010/11 | 4 | 24 |
| 2011/12 | 2 | 26 |
| 2012/13 | 5 | 25 |
| 2013/14 | 15 | 131 |
| 2014/15 | 21 | 155 |
Participants are unique within each year and include teaching or mentoring. The same person may appear in several years. These are participation figures, not course completions.
THET’s 2015 review recognised the value of mentoring and professional relationships while identifying low attendance, barriers to access and a need for closer curriculum alignment. Annual activity figures capture one part of this work. Audit training and visiting-volunteer figures belong to the wider King’s–THET partnership. Later chapters document institutional adoption and local ownership.
The record of achievement extends from sustained professional relationships to locally led education and national arrangements for the health workforce.
From the first Somaliland connections, teaching and mentoring became a recurring programme. The earlier record shows how sustained professional relationships supported clinicians between visits and helped establish a wider community of colleagues.
The earlier programme reviewAmoud and Hargeisa independently led Health Professions Education courses, taught by graduates of the original programme. Three subsequent cohorts included 87 educators. Within Prepared for Practice, MedicineAfrica administered the online learning environment.
Faculty development and local adoption Universities taking the work forward ↗Within the wider partnership, internship procedures, logbooks and competency assessments received Ministry of Health Development approval and were adopted nationally. Universities also took responsibility for clinical examinations and helped other institutions develop them.
National adoption and university collaborationMedicineAfrica joined PaSSS Somaliland alongside professional associations, hospitals and the Royal College of Surgeons of England. It helped administer a workforce survey identifying surgical and anaesthesia training needs and equipment gaps.
The surgical systems partnershipThese are achievements of connected partnerships. MedicineAfrica’s contribution is identified alongside the institutions and professionals who delivered and took the work forward.
Country engagement began early. The 2012 programme paper included Ministry of Health colleagues who helped design and implement MedicineAfrica. Later, Prepared for Practice connected universities with the institutions responsible for national standards and oversight. The early collaboration ↗
Later surgical work brought MedicineAfrica together with the Somaliland Medical Association, nursing and anaesthesia networks, other professional bodies, and Hargeisa Group and Burco Regional hospitals.
PaSSS Somaliland partners ↗In Somaliland, a shortage of specialist teachers and difficult travel made regular clinical support hard to sustain. Internet access was improving, but connections were slow and computers often shared.
MedicineAfrica made a practical choice: live, text-based discussion of clinical cases. Students and junior doctors could bring a case, explain their thinking and work through decisions with a tutor, without needing a video connection.
The exchange went both ways. The first published account also describes Somaliland interns teaching UK medical students.
Read the first account, published in 2010From December 2008, regular connections between Somaliland and UK health professionals created a way to continue working together between visits.
Early volunteer work, THET-supported development, Prepared for Practice and later collaborations each contributed to the history. The figures below belong to their stated periods.
Follow the evidence ↓MedicineAfrica began with Somaliland doctors at a time when reliable video calls were not practical. Text and images made it possible to exchange expertise on the internet connections available.
The first published accountA weekly programme developed across medical specialties. The 2012 paper described provision for Somaliland’s final-year medical students and newly qualified doctors, alongside reciprocal learning with UK students.
THET-supported platform development extended the earlier volunteer-led work. Teaching and mentoring grew alongside the wider partnership’s work on faculty development, leadership and clinical practice.
Explore the earlier programme ↑MedicineAfrica was the technology partner in Prepared for Practice, a completed five-year programme linking undergraduate education, faculty development and national reforms. Teaching was co-developed with Somaliland educators; Health Professions Education included curriculum design, assessment, supervision and research.
Prepared for Practice, 2016–2021. Original report
Universities led examinations and extended support to other institutions. Teaching materials passed to Somaliland faculty as online delivery moved to Google Classrooms. A bilingual COVID course and subsequent surgical collaboration addressed further workforce needs.
The PaSSS study documented MedicineAfrica’s role in assessing surgical and anaesthesia training needs. Its 110 survey respondents represented both professional groups. This is the publication date of earlier collaborative work.
The published needs assessmentSomaliland was central. Other partnerships adapted the approach to different clinical priorities and teaching communities.
Published accounts describe MedicineAfrica’s use for distance teaching in Sierra Leone and its use by health partnerships in Ghana and Tanzania. The surviving publications establish this wider reach without providing comparable totals for each country.
Sierra Leone in the published record · Ghana and TanzaniaMedical students at King’s, Hargeisa and Amoud discussed mental health together. Published studies explored cross-cultural learning, attitudes to psychiatry and the practical work of sustaining a peer partnership.
The programme and its evaluationIn 2020, the HPE programme used MedicineAfrica to continue lectures, group work and assessment after a teaching visit was cancelled. A subsequent COVID course was delivered in English and Somali with Somaliland coordinators.
Continuing teaching in 2020 ↗The researchers' account ↗The PaSSS study records MedicineAfrica's contribution to a survey of Somaliland's surgical and anaesthesia workforce.
The published study ↗The Oxford Psychiatry in Iraq programme brought Iraqi and UK clinicians together for regular case discussions, with MedicineAfrica as a partner.
Published programme account ↗OxPal drew on MedicineAfrica's distance-learning approach to connect Oxford clinicians with Palestinian medical students.
The partnership's history ↗Five pairs of medical students took part in a mental-health learning pilot using MedicineAfrica. Discussion followed the World Health Organization’s mhGAP guide. The published account describes reciprocal learning and the value of a platform designed for limited bandwidth.
The published Kashmir accountResearch, external assessment and partner reporting examined different parts of the programme, across its history.
MedicineAfrica became the subject of a sustained programme of research into how digital communities create social value. The studies followed professional relationships, shared knowledge and the responsibilities people took on.
Petros Chamakiotis, Dimitra Petrakaki and Niki Panteli’s 2021 journal paper identified benefits in practical knowledge, professional development and the creation of shared medical knowledge.
The published social-value study ↗Researchers documented members progressing from students to course leads, and from leads to programme coordinators and managers. Growing commitment brought greater responsibility and new activities.
The study of commitment ↗Participants described comparing the management of real clinical cases, reflecting on their decisions and passing knowledge to colleagues who had not attended. UK clinicians also learnt from working across different health-system contexts.
The researchers’ account ↗The work led to journal papers and a Sussex policy brief, with the researchers sharing findings through LSE Business Review and the World Economic Forum. MedicineAfrica remained a reference case in a 2025 journal editorial on the social value of digital platforms.
The later research perspective ↗A further study followed undergraduate teaching and a 2021 COVID-19 course delivered in English and Somali. It found that useful clinical learning could coexist with teaching that overlooked local resources and ways of working. The authors warned that imported approaches could marginalise local knowledge, and set out lessons for more locally relevant digital health programmes.
These qualitative studies document participants’ experiences and professional change. They do not establish a programme-wide effect on patient outcomes.
Read the 2023 follow-up study ↗Synchronous Online Clinical Education in Fragile States: An Activity Theory Perspective, King’s College London.
Molly Fyfe’s doctoral work examined how clinical learning takes place online. It forms part of the programme’s research record, alongside her co-authored studies of teaching and the adoption of e-health in post-conflict settings.
Referenced in the King’s programme report Read the published e-health studyTHET commissioned a technical and programme review of MedicineAfrica. The January 2015 evaluation considered the platform, the teaching model and its role within a wider capacity-development partnership.
The review covered implementation and learning, including the conditions needed for participation and continued development.
THET’s record of the commissionPhilanthropy Advisors examined the partnership’s delivery and institutional change. Its findings document adoption and adaptation by Somaliland institutions, alongside continuing support and resource needs.
The evaluation makes it possible to follow the work beyond course attendance, into teaching programmes and organisational practice.
Read the full independent evaluationThe record includes activity data, participant experience, research, independent evaluation and institutional adoption. Early reviews also identified problems with attendance, curricular alignment and access, alongside the value of professional relationships. Later reports document local ownership and wider institutional change. Each source covers a particular period and contribution; these figures are not an additive lifetime total.
MedicineAfrica’s experience became a subject of research and discussion about health-workforce capacity, technology in fragile settings and the value of international professional communities.
The 2014 study of e-health in post-conflict settings was funded by the Gates Foundation through the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Researchers from King’s, Amoud and other institutions examined health workers’ experiences in Somaliland, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the West Bank and Gaza.
The study and its fundingA Global Health Institute seminar at the university’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences introduced the programme’s approach to delivering medical education to doctors in developing countries.
Research on technology and health systems in fragile states was presented at Global Health and Security: Health as a Peace Dividend. SIPRI and Sida hosted the conference with Gates Foundation support; the ICT work examined health-system priorities, infrastructure, equity and accountability in Somalia.
The contribution in the published literatureThe research was presented at Norad’s Global Health and Security seminar, convened with SIPRI. The meeting brought the findings to Norwegian development, foreign-affairs and research audiences.
A six-minute recording explaining the programme’s approach to connecting health professionals and building capacity, preserved in the university’s podcast archive.
Watch or listen at OxfordMolly Fyfe’s research on the nature and impact of synchronous online clinical education in fragile states was listed in the PhD Reports programme at AMEE, the international medical-education conference.
The original conference programme ↗The Faculty’s annual report records a meeting with MedicineAfrica and describes its work across education, institutional and clinical-service strengthening, and strategic health-systems research.
The Faculty’s published recordPetros Chamakiotis and Niki Panteli presented MedicineAfrica as a case study of knowledge sharing, professional relationships and the value created for participants.
Conference paper and abstractA further conference paper examined why volunteers stayed involved, took on leadership responsibilities and developed new activities within MedicineAfrica.
Conference paper and abstractConference and seminar dates are checked against contemporary programmes, organisers’ records and published proceedings. Research funding and event participation are identified separately from programme delivery partnerships.
Volunteer-led work from 2008 was followed by THET-supported development from January 2013. The earlier platform and teaching programme grew within the King’s–THET Somaliland partnership and its UK aid-supported work.
From 2016, Prepared for Practice was one of the first two partnerships announced under the UK aid-funded Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education Innovation and Reform programme, SPHEIR.
Earlier THET programme recordA separate research strand received Gates Foundation funding through SIPRI, resulting in the 2014 study of e-health in post-conflict settings. Published funding acknowledgement
SPHEIR was managed by a consortium led by the British Council, with PwC and Universities UK International.
Read the official announcement“No country can ever build a brighter future for itself without a properly trained and skilled workforce.”
Priti Patel, then International Development Secretary
SPHEIR launch announcement, 1 November 2016
Programme coverage, awards and recognition in the published literature.
Media coverage · 2020Reporting on the Prepared for Practice partnership.
Award winner · 2020Recognition of MedicineAfrica's work in digital education.
BMJ Awards · 2012Junior Doctor of the Year awarded to Alexander Finlayson for MedicineAfrica.
Niall Boyce’s column covered MedicineAfrica’s collaboration with King’s in Somaliland and learning in both directions.
Sarah Dawood’s dedicated article on the programme’s teaching platform.
Martin Wright on online clinical mentoring in Somaliland. Philips-sponsored article, preserved by Inkl after removal of the original page.
An international review included Aqoon’s UK–Somaliland peer learning through MedicineAfrica.
Read the original studies and evaluations. PDF links open the document at its publisher or partner institution.
Finlayson et al. An international, case-based, distance-learning collaboration. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare.
SIPRI and Sida conference, Stockholm, 15–16 December 2011, supported by the Gates Foundation. The 2014 e-health paper cites the earlier ICT and health-systems contribution.
Niall Boyce. The Lancet, 12 November 2011, volume 378, page 1691. Technology reporting on MedicineAfrica’s teaching, mentoring, King’s collaboration and reciprocal Somaliland–UK learning.
Bowen et al. Focus-group evaluation and programme activity. JRSM Short Reports.
Rebecca Coombes. Original BMJ journal report of the awards, including Junior Doctor of the Year awarded to Alexander Finlayson for MedicineAfrica.
Keynejad et al. Telemedicine for peer-to-peer psychiatry learning between U.K. and Somaliland medical students. Academic Psychiatry. PDF: peer-reviewed manuscript in King’s Research Portal.
University of Oxford. A six-minute introduction to the programme, its global professional network and capacity-building approach.
Woodward, Fyfe, Handuleh et al. Diffusion of e-health innovations in “post-conflict” settings. Human Resources for Health.
Annual report. Somaliland’s wider health-workforce programme, the MedicineAfrica platform and the Anthrologica / Community Systems Foundation commission.
Penfold et al. JRSM Open. An early evaluation of the Oxford–Palestine teaching collaboration.
Molly Fyfe. AMEE conference programme, Milan. PhD Reports session, 2 September 2014: research on synchronous online clinical education in fragile states. Programme page 144.
Sarah Dawood. Design Week, 26 November 2014. Dedicated coverage of the teaching platform.
THET. The wider health-system programme and MedicineAfrica’s earlier delivery, mentoring and technology. An internal programme review with external peer review, covering achievements and implementation challenges.
The Faculty’s Global Health Committee engagement, including MedicineAfrica’s contribution to education, institutional strengthening and strategic health-systems research. Annual report, printed page 13.
Keynejad. Global health partnership for student peer-to-peer psychiatry e-learning: Lessons learned. Globalization and Health.
British Council. The launch announcement, including the International Development Secretary’s statement.
Martin Wright. The Guardian, 30 November 2016. Philips-sponsored feature including MedicineAfrica. Readable syndicated copy on Inkl; the original Guardian page has been removed.
Chamakiotis and Panteli. Generating Social Value through Online Communities: The Case of MedicineAfrica. Americas Conference on Information Systems proceedings.
Naslund et al. The Lancet Psychiatry. International narrative review including the 2016 Aqoon study and its use of MedicineAfrica. This reviews existing research, rather than reporting a new programme trial.
Murphy, Clissold and Keynejad. Evidence-Based Mental Health, a BMJ journal. UK–Somaliland pilot study using MedicineAfrica and WHO mhGAP materials.
Hameed et al. Can Online Distance Learning improve access to learning in conflict zones? The OxPIQ Experience. British Journal of Medical Practitioners.
Chamakiotis and Panteli. Members’ Commitment in Online Health Communities: The Case of MedicineAfrica. European Conference on Information Systems, research-in-progress paper.
Chamakiotis, Panteli and Petrakaki. The original Sussex research brochure, presenting findings from the MedicineAfrica study.
The award organisers’ MedicineAfrica profile and account of the programme’s development.
Imtiyaz, Garratt, Cox and Keynejad. The Clinical Teacher. Published account of the 2015 Aqoon-Kashmir pilot using MedicineAfrica and WHO’s mhGAP guide.
The researchers’ LSE Business Review article on professional commitment, responsibility and social value beyond membership counts.
Sarah Curr and Joanna De Souza. King’s module leads describe the use of MedicineAfrica for recorded lectures, group work and adapted assessment after a cancelled teaching visit.
Philanthropy Advisors. Delivery, institutional change, adoption and continuing support needs.
King’s Global Health Partnerships. Health Professions Education, faculty development and new cohorts taught by former participants.
British Council case study. Partner responsibilities, Somaliland-led governance, medical education policy and national institutional engagement. Prepared for Practice case study, pages 17–25.
Chamakiotis, Petrakaki and Panteli. Information Systems Journal. The full journal study of MedicineAfrica’s professional community. PDF: repository manuscript.
Petrakaki and Chamakiotis. Clinical knowledge, professional behaviour, local relevance and capacity building. Policy@Sussex, June 2021.
Prosser et al. BMC Medical Education. Qualitative evaluation of UK–Somaliland learning through MedicineAfrica, including reflection, cultural understanding and clinical confidence.
Catherine Setchell. King’s account of changes in teaching practice and university policy, with Hargeisa and Amoud independently leading Health Professions Education. Wider Prepared for Practice partnership outcomes.
King’s Global Health Partnerships. Undergraduate teaching, assessment and the handover of teaching resources.
Researchers’ account of the 2021 bilingual COVID course and their wider study of digital health platforms in the Global South.
Petrakaki, Chamakiotis and Curto-Millet. Digital health platforms in the Global South. Social Science & Medicine. Clinical learning and the consequences of overlooking local knowledge, language and resources.
The study authors’ World Economic Forum article, drawing on MedicineAfrica to discuss clinical learning and the importance of local context.
McKnight et al. The PaSSS study and MedicineAfrica’s contribution to workforce needs assessment. British Journal of Surgery.
Chamakiotis and Petrakaki. Information Systems Journal editorial. Revisits MedicineAfrica as an example of social value; this is a research perspective, not a new programme evaluation.
Molly Fyfe. Synchronous Online Clinical Education in Fragile States: An Activity Theory Perspective. King’s College London. Thesis title listed in the programme report; the reference does not give a year.
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41 records
Each result belongs to its stated programme and period. MedicineAfrica’s contribution is identified within the work of its partners. The doctoral-research entry links to a published programme reference, not an unpublished thesis draft. PDF links lead to original public documents; the 2025 surgical paper is a later publication, not a claim of operations in that year.