Developing a Family Medicine Postgraduate Training Program in Zambia.

The last decade has seen a number of educational programs in family medicine begin throughout the African region as many countries have recognized that family medicine offers an efficient way to meet the growing health demands of their country. Zambia's health situation is similar to many countries in sub-Saharan Africa by having a wide array of compelling health demands and a health sector with a limited capacity to meaningfully respond. This paper describes the efforts to begin Zambia's first post-graduate training program for family medicine. Several different methods were used to assist with the launch of Zambia's first postgraduate training program in family medicine: developing a logistical framework, regional site visits, building consensus among stakeholders, defining family medicine specifically for Zambia, and the development of a curriculum. Significant outputs achieved during the start-up period include: changes to the organizational structure of the medical school, budget reconciliation, and recruitment of the teaching faculty. Challenges that remain for the near-term include identifying appropriate district-level teaching facilities and the recruitment and retention of qualified faculty. Zambia's experience in developing family medicine may prove useful to other academic medical institutions throughout the region or in comparable socioeconomic circumstances as they look to address similar health sector challenges.