The College of Medicine at Swansea University and the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, in Nigeria joined forces to form the “Partners in Global Health” initiative in 2003. Supported by a Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions, the partnership aims to produce eLearning materials in international health that will be effective in improving health outcomes.  The overall aim is to improve health outcomes through the development and delivery of effective education resources with immediate aims to further develop the partnership between Swansea and Ibadan Universities, involving other partners as a means of developing and delivering effective education resources in international health, and produce readily-accessible, digital health education materials on priority diseases that are directly relevant to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. 

Greater international travel and migration mean that health workers in any one particular location need to be knowledgeable of the common, important diseases that occur at the global level. Health workers in poorer countries are increasingly faced with the “diseases of transition” – such as diabetes, obesity and the associated cardiovascular diseases.  Many health professionals based in industrialised countries wish to contribute to efforts to improve health in developing countries. There is a renewed urgency to help countries with the most difficulties to make progress towards the Millennium Development Goals – with a particular focus on improving child and infant survival.  Medical and other health students are always interested to learn of diseases in other regions than their own and to travel and experience health problems in the context of other populations and cultures.

The partnership’s guiding principle is that effective, working partnerships between health professionals based in industrialised and developing countries are needed to begin to respond to these challenges. Bringing together the special expertise of staff in both settings will be required to develop effective solutions.  The potential of eLearning to deliver educational resources to the many and diverse settings where they are needed is immense. The ability to include clinical images and interactive, formative assessment improves the effectiveness of learning materials. The accessibility of digital resources breaks down the barriers between teacher and learner and also between different cadres of health workers. Materials are designed primarily for medical students at the two partner institutions and are suited to individual study. However, a simple format has been used so that the resources can be easily re-purposed for use by other target groups.  In this way, “the e in eLearning also stands for equity” and the digital format means that generic materials can be adapted easily to suit different local target groups. 

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