At Kigali Convention Center, from 24th to 25th March 2025, the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) is hosting a 2-day International Collaborative Leadership Conference, entitled: Advancing Medical Education in Africa. The theme under discussion is Innovation in Medical Education Practices. Among others, the aspects of New Digital Technologies, Simulation-Based Education, Global Health and Social Medicine, and Leadership and Partnerships will be discussed.  

The meeting is intended to help addressing health inequities in Africa, by building a robust healthcare system that can cater to the needs of the population as Rwanda believes. This is due to the critical situation in Sub-Saharan African countries, where having 24% of global diseases does not correlate with having only 4% of the world medical workforce to carry this burden.  

Conference key themes: 

• New Technologies and Simulation in Medical Education: This theme focuses on innovations like AI, e-learning, big data, and virtual/augmented reality in medical education. African medical schools will discuss their experiences with these technologies and collaborate with tech companies to improve access across the continent. The aim is to strengthen  the existing African Simulation Group, thereby promoting innovation and collaboration across the continent. 

• Leadership in Medical Education: This theme emphasizes the importance of unified leadership among African medical schools. Discussions will focus on creating a consortium of deans to encourage shared learning and collaboration on educational innovations. 

•  Embracing Social Medicine in Medical Education: This session will explore how social, and community medicine is integrated into medical education, with a focus on liberal arts, community-based models, and their impact on future medical competencies. 

• Integrating Modern Global Health Challenges in Medical Curricula: Schools will showcase how global health issues like One Health, climate change, and pandemics are incorporated into medical training. Workshops will discuss how to integrate these topics into curricula and foster collaborations. 

Conference Objectives 

• Showcase cutting-edge teaching approaches and curricular advancements in Rwanda and across Africa. 

• Form the Consortium of African medical school’s dean and foster on going collaboration for advancing innovations in the medical education and medical education resource sharing in Africa.  

• Highlight current innovative approaches and technology in medical education through digital health and e-learning platforms. 

• Discuss strategies to empower faculty development and enhance medical education strategies that curb the migration of health care practitioners and skilled educators to regions outside Africa. 

• Discuss the alignment of accreditation processes across Africa to ensure equity, quality, and reciprocal recognition of medical qualifications. 

• Promote research and evidence-based practice that contributes to the advancement of medical education in Africa. 

UGHE is on a mission to radically change the way health care is delivered around the world. Too often, global health professionals are educated in classrooms thousands of miles away from vulnerable communities and the oppressive, yet eminently treatable, cluster of health problems they experience. We’ve pioneered a new way of training leaders who emerge ready to develop health care services and systems that connect neglected communities with life-saving attention. Graduates of UGHE are equipped to lead programs and organizations that treat entire systems, not just symptoms, to improve health and save lives. 

Abstracts Submission 

The University of Global Health Equity (UGHE), in collaboration with the Rwanda Ministry of Health, cordially invites poster abstract submissions for this conference. 

Since important innovative ideas such as New Digital Technologies, Simulation-Based Education, Global Health and Social Medicine • Leadership and Partnerships will be discussed, a primary focus will be on fostering intercontinental partnerships in medical training. The event will highlight the establishment of a Council of Deans of Medical Schools, whose main task is to establish a unity among the medical schools in Africa. 

Abstracts are therefore invited to showcase innovations in medical education implemented across the continent. Abstracts should align with the sub-themes and topics below as only few and exceptional abstracts outside the themes will be accepted.  

Abstract Tracks/Topics: 

1. New Technologies and Simulation in Medical Education

Explore implementations in simulation, e-learning, big data, informatics, and augmented/virtual reality (VR), elucidating how these technologies can transform and decentralize medical education across Africa. 

2. Social Medicine and Medical Education

Examine how integrating social and community medicine into curricula using approaches community-based education, and learning-by-living model and others contributes to the development of well-rounded healthcare professionals.  

3. Integrating Global Health in Medical Curricula

Demonstrate how African medical schools are incorporating critical global health issues such as One Health (including climate change, zoonotic diseases, and pandemics), research, into their curricula, preparing students to address emerging global health challenges. 

4. Leadership in Medical Education

Highlight how collaboration and partnerships are improving medical education and training in Africa and showcase leadership models that are driving this transformation. 

 Submission Guidelines: 

– Eligibility: Researchers, faculty, students, and technology companies are invited to submit abstracts  

– Word Limit: Abstracts should not exceed 300 words, excluding the title. 

– Scholarships: Limited scholarships will be available for students and faculty from under–represented African medical schools to present their papers. 

– Presentation Preference: Indicate your preferred mode of presentation (oral or poster). 

– Female Participation: Female students and/or faculty are particularly encouraged to submit abstracts. 

-Submission Language: All abstracts are to be submitted in English to facilitate the peer review and moderation process. 

– Submission Period: From October 15, 2024, to 30 January 2025. Abstracts submitted beyond the deadline of 30 January 2025 will not be considered.  

– Plagiarism: Copying work or ideas from someone else and presenting them as your own is plagiarism and is regarded by the conference organizers as serious professional misconduct. The conference organizer expects that if a presentation is built on the work of another, the intellectual property of that person/people is acknowledged. 

Abstracts MUST be submitted electronically via this online submission system.  For abstract with images please send them using this email address: MedEd2024@ughe.org

Our team will communicate the status of your abstract two weeks after the deadline.

Click here to Submit your Abstract 

For more inquires, please contact our team at MedEduc.Africa@ughe.org