Health Professions’ Specialty Training Guidelines For Zambia

Abstract

This edition of “Specialty Training Programme Guidelines for Zambia” (The First Edition 2017) is a seminal referral document because it provides, for Zambia, guidance to the inception and first ever guidelines to postgraduate health professions’ specialty training outside of university settings. It anchors the establishment of the specialty training programme (STP) and guides all the key players in its implementation. This edition is a consolidation of earlier conventions for academic higher degrees and the new STP and applies to all trainees taking up STP appointments in specialty training which commence on or after August 2017. This edition sets new and augments or replaces all previous dealings regarding specialty training with immediate effect. Throughout the document any reference to postgraduate specialization includes higher degrees offered by universities (e.g. MSc, PhD etc.) and STP specialty training conferred by a recognized and accredited community of practice of a specialty grouping (e.g. surgeons, internists, paediatricians, obstetricians, public health specialists, epidemiologists, etc.). Where arrangements and processes differ between academic qualifications and specialty training these differences are noted in the document. Notwithstanding the eligibility criteria for specialty training are spelled out for the STP and may differ from postgraduate entry requirements for particular universities. For the STP particular reference is made to Certificate of Eligibility for Specialty Registration & Training (CEST). The development of these Specialty Training Programme Guidelines has been through a continuous consultative process of feedback by stakeholders from local and international professional associations, regional and international specialty training authorities, regulatory authorities and Government officials. The input and feedback of stakeholders is gratefully acknowledged. The procedures, standards and requirements set by regulatory authorities, and in particular the Health Professions Council of Zambia (HPCZ), Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZAQA), are extensively cited and referenced to ensure that the STP Guidelines are underpinned by them. The STP Guidelines are published in hard copy and electronic format and are required to be available on websites, physical repositories, and archives of all STP training centres, licensing & accrediting authorities and specialty awarding professional bodies. These STP Guidelines, to begin with will be reviewed annually, and later in five (5) year intervals. The control of updating and disseminating these STP Guidelines is vested in the Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ).