Português
English 
The Use of ICT for Health Professionals Education in Mozambique: Curricular integration and Challenges
Momade Ali, MSc, ISc.
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Health Science, Lúrio University,
Nampula, Mozambique.
Background:
Over the past two decades, new dynamics have emerged in higher education, that include: (i) demand; (ii) diversification of provision; (iii) changing lifelong learning needs; and (iv) growing Communication and Information Technology (CIT) usage and enhanced networking and social engagement, both with the economic sector and with the community at large [1].
The use of ICT is referred as an innovative and the key for increasing the number of health professionals education, specially in context of resource constrained countries like Mozambique[1,2,3].
Volvides et al (2014) describes the introduction of eLearning at four African medicals and one school of pharmacy (Addis Abeba University, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, University of Botswana School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal), all part of the MEPI, highlighting the need for five factors essential for successfull and sustainable implementation: institutional support; faculty engagement; student engagement; technical expertise; and infrastructure and support systems.
ICT in Medical Education in Mozambique
In 2000, the Mozambican Government approved the ICT policy with guidelines to ensure appropiate integration of Mozambique in the global information society.
Distance Learning projects were defined as priorities areas to support educational, training and research activities, including health professionals (HP) education training and HIV/Aids related programs.
Since then, ICT has been part of the referencial framework of government policies and this as influenced the referencial frameworks of institutions of higher education.
Within the MEPI investment an IT infrastructure for access to digital references, building capacity to support clinical research were made as inovative strategies for transforming external medicine residency training at Eduardo Mondlane University (Maputo) and support the establishement of pos graduate training at Lurio University, located in a geographical undeserved region in Nampula Province, Mozambique.
