The contribution of South African curricula to prepare health professionals for working in rural or under-served areas in South Africa (original) (raw)

The Collaboration for Health Equity through Education and Research (CHEER) was formed in 2003 to examine strategies that would increase the production of health professional graduates who choose to practise in rural and under-served areas in South Africa. It consists of an academic from each of nine universities in South Africa with a health science faculty, who is involved in communitybased education, service-learning or rural health, or similar activities that prepare students for rural and under-served areas. Literature reviews, 1,2 a qualitative study 3 and a case-control quantitative study 4 have been completed, around the same research question. An integral component has been peer reviews at each university in the collaboration, to identify in more detail how each faculty is preparing its students for service in rural or under-served areas. All nine participating institutions have held a review to date, and this article reports on the outcomes. Each university has a different approach and operates in a unique context. The reviews therefore amount to a series of case studies, each complete in itself. We report the insights, learning and recommendations arising from each peer review around common themes and assess these in terms of proposed best practices for South Africa.