Emerging market medical education goes digital

 10-Mar-15, Techonomy

A shortage of skilled health workers is an acute and ongoing problem in many emerging markets. Weak medical education systems bear a major part of the blame, and typically suffer from two problems: A lack of qualified instructors, and weak or non-existent continuing medical education (CME) programs.

But a big opportunity for rapid progress has emerged as online medical education becomes increasingly common. 

Image: HAIVN

In radiology, for instance, a growing number of hospitals around the world now use software that enables residents to receive virtual training from qualified practitioners anywhere in the world—a boon for places like Indonesia and Myanmar.

Even surgery can now be taught remotely with technologies that combine virtual reality with AI techniques, an approch now being used in Bangkok. 

In Vietnam, a Harvard Medical School-affiliated NGO runs a video conferencing platform that connects HIV specialists in top Vietnamese hospitals with frontline community health workers.

In many places, health workers are simply going online to improve their knowledge and skills. In the Philippines, for example, a group of doctors founded an online community called HealthXPh that uses social media for discussions about healthcare.

Health workers remain the frontline stewards of public health, and new e-learning tools will increase their numbers and train them to provide high-quality care in places that desperately need it.

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