Dec 2013: Second Student visit to Aksum

OVERVIEW

In December 2013, two Barts medical school students visited Aksum University Medical School

(AUMS) for two weeks, accompanied by Dr Tim Crocker-Buqué. We were excited to be the

second set of students visiting AUMS, Samson visiting for the first time and Esther, returning

after previously visited in July 2013. Before our visit, there have been three previous trips; firstly, Louisa Harding-Edgar on a scoping visit, Jon Fuller and Viv Cook, on a PBL training visit and Esther Tillson and Katy Kuhrt, on a student scoping visit. Since the previous student visit, the partnership had developed and a Barts Student Committee has been established. We had been in contact with the students in Aksum and they had informally formed a committee. One of our main objectives for our trip was to help organise and strengthen the mirror committee so that both halves of the partnership can have an equal role in its direction and organisation. Whilst in Aksum, we planned to work with the mirror

committee to determine their ideas for the partnership and work out how to take them

forwards. Another key objective for the trip was initiating the Online Tutorial Programme using Medicine Africa, which would include running our first tutorials with a UK clinician.We also hoped to

determine the elective feasibility of St Mary’s Hospital for Barts’ students, whilst also

investigating opportunities for research at the hospital and at AUMS.

Lastly, we hoped to strengthen the partnership by developing our relationships with the staff at

students AUMS. Whilst also experiencing the deep-rooted Ethiopian culture and learning about

Aksum’s rich ancient history.

AIMS OF VISIT

To improve the communication and interaction between the student group at Aksum,

the student group at BLSMD and other relevant organisations by;

 Assisting in the planning of the AUMS students engaging with the Ethiopian Medical

Students Association and the IFMSA.

 Developing a mentoring programme between AUMS medical students and BLSMD

students in equivalent roles on the student committees.

 Undertaking a teambuilding workshop between the AUMS committee and BLSMD

committee.

 Sharing ideas and experience of how students can interact with faculty to improve their

medical education.

 Undertake group workshops on the structure and function of MedicineAfrica for use as

an educational tool for online collaboration and learning.

 To increase the productivity of the partnership by;

 Identifying training needs of the AUMS student committee in respect of developing their

organisational structure and function.

 Delivering IFMSA accredited training sessions on any/all of the following, as relevant:

strategic planning, governance, facilitation, financial management, conflict resolution,

and monitoring and evaluation.

 Producing a framework and procedure for the development of educational resources

using Medicine Africa, including identifying topics relevant to both student groups.

 To scope the ongoing development of the student partnership, including identifying

bilateral learning needs and developing a student elective programme.

 Share knowledge by comparing medical school life between students groups at AUMS

and BLSMD during the visit, to increase cross cultural understanding between the

institutions.

 To begin identifying opportunities for research collaboration between students at AUMS

and BLSMD.

UPDATES FROM AKSUM

As AUMS is a very newly established institution there had been several developments since the

previous visit in July 2013.

AUMS had been given the award of ‘PBL Centre of excellence’ by the Ethiopian government.

THe title is very much deserved by AUMS staff, who have been delivering PBL training to faculty

at other medical schools across the country, as well as advocating the educational method to

other departments at Aksum University. In fact, we met the junior faculty members on our

flight to Aksum from the capital, as they returned from a PBL training conference in Awasa.

Moreover, the faculty have had PBL training from both Barts and The London and Maastrich,

the birthplace of PBL.

Whilst at St Mary’s Hospital, we observed large numbers of students at the bedside, see below

in the ‘Elective feasibility’ section. However, AUMS have attempted to address this issues by

arranging for students to be placed at other clinical attachments in the area, for example in

Shire and Adwa. Not only this, but a new hospital has been built in Aksum which has the

potential to accommodate the growing numbers of clinical students. The new hospital will be a

regional referral hospital for the Tigray region, a step up from St Mary’s, which is a district

hospital. AUMS hopes that the new referral centre will attract senior clinicians to Aksum,

providing an improved learning environment for AUMS students. Currently, the new hospital is

fully built, but requires the procurement of equipment and the enrolment of staff to become a

functional hospital.

During our visit we were made aware of a local non-governmental organisation called ‘Give Me

Education. The NGO is newly established and aims to tackle the substantial problem of children

begging Aksum. This is a particular issue because children begging on the streets leads to

truency from school. The NGO targets both the children and also tourists and locals to address

this issues. Children in Aksum often come up to tourists, asking for money, pens and other

things. The phrases “Give me pen” and “Give me money” led to the NGO’s name “Give Me

Education.” The NGO supports children to attend school by providing pens and books, whilst

also educating tourists about the negative impact of giving money to the children, as it

promotes begging and causes truancy.