Strengthening developmental capacity for family medicine training in Africa: the South Africa-Family Medicine-Twinning project

The aim of the project is to improve the health of communities through accessible, responsive and quality health care systems in Southern Africa. This will be accomplished by training family physicians who contribute to interdisciplinary primary health care services, oriented towards the needs of individuals, their families and the communities in which they live. Capacity building will focus on creating a strong link between the South African departments of family medicine and their twinning partner in the Southern African region. Next to this the establishment of training complexes, and making educational resources available through South-South cooperation in the format of E-learning, training programmes, and "training the trainers" workshops are of utmost importance. Research will include refining a definition and building a comprehensive framework for family medicine/primary health care in an African context and looking into the place of family medicine in the health care systems of countries in Southern Africa. Moreover, documentation of field experiences will underpin specific strategies of community oriented primary care and community based education and service. Finally, networking will be essential to ensure sustainability of this intervention.