Table 1.

some of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic for medical education in sub-Saharan Africa

Challenges	Possible solution
Limited infrastructure to accommodate e-learning	Stakeholders and government across the continent should pursue a holistic and evidence-based model to inform decisions about investments in infrastructure to accommodate for e-learning. The following proposed steps can be followed; 1) Data collection and analysis - i.e. types of infrastructural needs. 2) Identify infrastructural challenges. 3) Develop set of criteria to prioritize investment. 4) Monitoring - i.e. application of criteria in practice and allocation of fund for infrastructure development.
Inability of educators to use e-learning in teaching and learning	Faculties should be encouraged to invest time and money into continuous training of educators on teaching with technology. This could be in the form of short online courses, continuous training workshops and forming an online community of practice to facilitate peer-assisted learning.
Inadequate institutional support for student to cope with e-learning and teaching	Faculties and institutions should develop flexible platforms that will allow learners continuous engagement with the institution/educators, enhance student´s connectivity to one another (encourage peer-assisted learning), and support student to succeed in their studies.
Students´ inability to afford devices for technology-based learning	Efforts should be made by stake holders in medical education to develop a more inclusive online education system by ensuring that all learners benefit from new technologies. Grant proposals can be written to purchase used and inexpensive devices; solicit for donation of new or used devices through campaigns; local businesses-school partnership or agreement can be entered into for funding; and school can develop flexible platforms that can be accessed on inexpensive devices such as mobile phones etc.
Difficulty in scheduling face-to-face clinical assessment	Face-to-face clinical assessment can be substituted with open book exam and a virtually proctored shelf exam [30]