Professor Ciaran O'Boyle Director of the Institute of Leadership and Mr Dermot O'Flynn, Director of Corporate Training delivered a series of six Train the Trainer courses as part of the RCSI's involvement in the COSECSA project.

The training programme was organised by Mr Eric O' Flynn, RCSI-COSECSA Programme Manager. Participants, leading surgeons in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, completed the Institute's on-line Train the Trainer course and then attended a one-day training programme. Courses were held in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Nairobi (Kenya), Arusha and Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania).

The RCSI-COSECSA project is funded by Irish Aid to improve the standards of surgical care, training, education and examinations in the region. The COSECSA region encompasses nine countries along the east, central and southern regions of Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The training method at COSECSA is based on the principle of a 'college without walls' and the Institute of Leadership's philosophy of blended learning fits readily into this model.

The training challenge facing COSECSA can be appreciated when one considers that there are only 1,390 qualified surgeons in the COSECSA region for a population of 273 million people. While England has 35 surgeons per 100,000 population, Kenya has 1.1 per 100,000, Zambia 0.6 per 100,000, Uganda has 0.7 per 100,000, while Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Malawi have less than 0.5 surgeons per 100,000.