| Botswana |
Theoretical teaching can smoothly be taught virtually, provided that students and staff have access to the Internet. However, strong Internet and electronic platforms must be established. For medical training, the hands-on experience needs to be considered and limits for any mandatory contact time experience need to be established. Welfare services for staff and students need to be established to address issues of anxiety and depression brought on by the pandemic and its consequences.
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| Cameroon |
For online learning or distance learning using digital platforms to be effective, Internet connectivity needs to improve in bandwidth and speed at an affordable cost. It is possible that 5G technology may be needed for Cameroon to progress in this direction. Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) issues pose a risk to educational attainment at all levels of learning in Cameroon, not only in the face of the COVID pandemic but also in the face of other epidemics and outbreaks, including cholera and Ebola. Consequently, educational institutions must invest in WASH for improved learning and teaching outcomes in the future.
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| Eswatini |
The COVID-19 pandemic put a considerable strain on the majority of the higher learning institutions, including health science institutions, who had depended on conventional face-to-face teaching and learning approaches, and compromised the mandate of tertiary institutions. The challenges encountered and lessons learnt in preparation for future pandemic include:
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Capacity building for health science institutions in the use of online learning platforms, as well as integration of virtual learning environments into institutional websites, in order to normalise remote learning;
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There is need for health science institutions to strengthen collaboration with major stakeholders, including the Eswatini Higher Education Council as well as telecommunication- and technology-based companies to reinforce a stronger infrastructure to support remote learning, thereby enhancing quality education during future pandemics;
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The psychological and emotional effect of the COVID-19 pandemic suffered by both staff and students in health science institutions suggests the need to develop a formal psychosocial support system in every training institution to cater for students and staff whose academic responsibilities may be compromised as a result of such a pandemic.
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| Ghana |
The need to develop remote and distance teaching and learning materials have provided the opportunity to rethink the curricula, as well as teaching and learning processes and the restructuring of health science students’ competencies assessments for future pandemics. The need for partnerships to develop or enhance the virtual capacity of health science education in the area of skill-based learning and assessment. The need to develop targeted support for students and lecturers to address the barriers and challenges in providing quality education during an outbreak. Health science universities must also collaborate to develop policies on virtual teaching and learning during an outbreak. They should also focus on scaling up or developing the relevant capacity to utilise resources available to them when developing or producing mitigatory measures in future pandemics.
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| Kenya |
Going forward, universities must invest in proper infrastructures that can enhance social distancing and hygiene measures during pandemics. Universities also need to invest heavily in ICT to support online teaching, research, and other related activities. There is a need for recognising the promotion of blended learning (face-to-face and online) and less emphasis on physical learning. Alongside this, a need to invest in alternative methods of clinical teaching, such as the use of videos and demonstrations. Using COVID-19 as a case history to conduct research and develop strategies for mitigating future pandemics.
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| Malawi |
Need to develop full-time online lessons whereby students can choose either online or face-to-face learning. This requires institutions to have fully developed and up-to-date online learning systems and infrastructures. Institutions need to fully develop online resources and regularly update them accordingly for use by current students so that they can be fully developed and up-to-date and more inclusive in advance of any future pandemic. Medical and pharmacy institutions also need to develop pertinent tools for virtual experimentation of practicals to address current challenges.
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| Namibia |
There is need for health science institutions to migrate to education appropriate for the 4th Industrial Revolution (Education 4.0/5.0), which is learner-centred, work-integrated, and competence-based and embraces digital education through a range of technologies [117]. Directly transplanting materials used for face-to-face teaching to online platforms does not achieve the same results; students’ comprehension of topics after online lectures (whether recorded or synchronous) was not as high as after the same lectures were given face-to-face. Consequently, additional effort needs to be made to ensure that: Students attend synchronous teaching sessions with lecturers; Lecturers actively engage as much of the class as possible during these sessions to keep students focussed and address any misunderstandings. Hands-on practicals and clinical training of health science students should never be substituted with 100% online learning and assessments, although there can be challenges during any pandemic. There is need to assure the continued quality of online assessments as they are prone to plagiarism. Health science institutions in resource-limited settings need to continuously innovate and improve teaching, learning, and assessments in their local context to enhance appropriate training of students. Developing learning materials (such as question banks, case studies, and demonstrations) in collaboration with other health science institutions across Africa will strengthen the quality of future training while reducing duplication of effort.
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| Nigeria |
Establishment of functional hybrid learning platforms (in-person and online) in educational institutions. Development of reliable virtual online assessment methods for students. Adequately equipped skills acquisition laboratories among the universities, especially public universities, to bridge the gaps created by the non-feasibility of physical learning in future pandemics. Educational curricular reviews to integrate emerging and re-emerging diseases into the medical and pharmacy educational programmes. The need for health sciences regulatory bodies to ensure acceptable standards are achieved to guarantee the quality and competence of HCPs who graduate during pandemics.
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| South Africa |
There have been ample learning opportunities for all involved as well as a greater appreciation for the need for institutions to exercise compassion, flexibility, and, where possible, a sense of stability for students. Everyone, including staff and students, was forced to be innovative, think more creatively, and come up with appropriate solutions for alternative ways and approaches to ensure teaching and learning takes place according to pre-set criteria. As a result, better preparation for future pandemics. Considering the advantages of hybrid or blended learning as an educational approach for future medical and pharmacy education, building on existing institutional strengths. Online teaching and learning opened up endless possibilities of collaboration between academic institutions locally and abroad to share expertise and include teaching by international experts as part of the curricula, which was previously not possible. The importance of clear communication and expectations. Many students were not aware of what the environment would be like or the need to continually adapt assessments to accommodate online learning. Greater need for a scholarship of teaching and learning in academic training to ensure alignment throughout, which also provided ample opportunity to engage in HCP education research.
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| Tanzania |
Both public and private universities should be strongly encouraged to invest in appropriate infrastructures that can enhance social distancing and hygiene during pandemics. Universities also need to invest heavily in ICT to support online teaching, research, and other related activities. The future for teaching and learning in Africa will be based on IT to deliver lectures, assignments, and examinations, the latter being a considerable challenge that needs urgent addressing.
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| Uganda |
Uganda needs to invest in the infrastructure of universities to offer more hybrid learning experiences going forward. Faculty members need to be more flexible with greater e-learning in the home environment and the challenges this produces. Universities need to work with the government and Internet providers to reduce the financial burden of Internet access and platforms for working at home.
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| Zambia |
Universities must invest in robust e-learning educational strategies and accessible educational media technologies for health science education in the future. E-learning interventions for medical and pharmacy education could be of great benefit for targeting quality education, with over-reliance on face-to-face, contact-based teaching and learning approaches revisited going forward. The effectiveness of e-learning, including blended learning approaches, needs to be evaluated in the context of core competence development and fitness for subsequent practice for the graduates produced using such methods, which is ongoing in Zambia. In this digital era, increasing uptake of e-learning and making quality Internet accessible at subsidised cost (inexpensive) for student populations must be a mainstream strategy for universities to enhance access to learning platforms.
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| Zimbabwe |
There is a need to establish reliable, affordable digital platforms for e-learning among both university staff and students. There is also a need for universities and colleges to collaborate with tech companies for potential solutions to enhance e-learning opportunities. Build student capacity to become citizen programmers so that they become tech-savvy as part of the curriculum and guide others. Universities need to pay more attention to psychosocial support for students in future pandemics.
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