What we are doing
M-PACT is a 3-year collaboration with the West African College of Physicians (WACP), funded by the Ecobank Foundation. The project supported the focus of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6 – combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, by increasing access to high-quality clinical training on managing and treating these diseases.
The RCP and the WACP worked together to develop five MDG6 training centres in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone and deliver 18 training courses reaching more than 600 West African physicians – most of whom have teaching responsibilities.
The first phase of the programme began in January 2015 when volunteers from the WACP delivered a series of ‘Doctors as educators’ courses to upskill local trainers in Ghana and Nigeria. RCP and WACP volunteers then delivered the first round of MDG6 clinical training courses in Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal in March and April 2015. Leadership during infectious disease outbreaks was added to the course syllabus to aid in the fight against Ebola.
The project's final clinical training course concluded in May 2017, in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
M-PACT in numbers
The RCP and the WACP have now delivered three 'Doctors as educators' courses and 18 clinical skills courses, reaching more than 677 physicians from 12 west African nations.
In addition to training on the management of HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, participants have also benefitted from leadership courses and workshops on the management of outbreak investigations, new concepts in one health, TB diagnosis in children, infection control and medical ethics.