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Strengthening healthcare through family medicine training in The Gambia: The journey so far

Abraham N. Gyuse, Iorfa Tor-Anyiin, Joshua P. Mwankwon, Ousman Nyan, Horeja Saine
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine | Vol 16, No 1 | a4446 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v16i1.4446 | © 2024 Abraham N. Gyuse, Iorfa Tor-Anyiin, Joshua P. Mwankwon, Ousman Nyan, Horeja Saine | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 18 December 2023 | Published: 25 April 2024

About the author(s)

Abraham N. Gyuse, Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria Department of Family Medicine, Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, Banjul, Gambia
Iorfa Tor-Anyiin, Department of Family Medicine, Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, Nigeria Department of Family Medicine, Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, Banjul, Gambia
Joshua P. Mwankwon, Department of Family Medicine, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria Department of Family Medicine, Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, Banjul, Gambia
Ousman Nyan, Department of Internal Medicine, Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, Banjul, Gambia
Horeja Saine, Department of Nursing, Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, Banjul, Gambia

Abstract

According to the World Health Organizations (WHO) family medicine forms the bedrock upon for accessible, affordable and equitable healthcare for any country. The need for family doctors is more acute for low income countries like The Gambia. More so that The Gambian health infrastructure is suboptimal and appropriate health personnel is low. This is worsened by brain drain leading to poor health indices. Despite these challenges and more, the department of Family Medicine was accredited for training in the Gambia with improved infrastructure (at the training centre), with 7 residents. Though there are still challenges there are also opportunities and strengths. There is therefore hope that the right personnel will be produced for an improved Gambian health system.


Keywords

essential health; strengthen; family medicine; journey; Gambia

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