In a recent article posted on devex.com, Dr. Lia Tadesse Gebremedhin discussed both the recent successes in improving high-quality family planning world-wide and the opportunities to increase those successes by implementing more training programs for 'in-country' doctors, nurses, and midwives.
Dr. Tadesse, who is the executive director for the Center for International Reproductive Health Training (CIRHT) at the University of Michigan, used the CIRHT's work in Ethiopia as a model of how incorporating family planning training into basic medical education enables health professional to increase their overall level of care to women and girls.
Dr. Tadesse was quoted in the devex article "A training transformation in reproductive health" as saying:
The world needs more health professionals who view reproductive health and family planning as integral to ensuring health throughout life. For this perspective to develop, integration of these areas must begin during medical, nursing and midwifery school. This concept, known as pre-service training, may not seem revolutionary and may even seem intuitive. In many places, however, hands-on experience in reproductive health care is not part of the schooling curriculum for health professionals.
Read the article here.