Impact of International Training of Medical Specialists for underdeveloped Countries: Brazil– Angola experience

Angola has about 28 million inhabitants andapproximately 0.21 physicians/1,000 population. There is onlyone specialist in some medical fields in the whole country whilethere is not even one specialist in some other fields. The objectiveof this study is to investigate the significance of the CooperationProgram for Foreign Doctors (Brazil) and its impact on theprovision of specialized medical care in Angola, showing theevolution of the different specialties as well as the emergence ofsome specialties in Angola.

A retrospective study was performed, identifying theAngolan doctors trained in Brazil by the Cooperation Programfor Foreign Doctors. The number and specialty of the trainedphysicians were obtained from the database of the program, andthe number of doctors in each specialty in Angola was obtainedby consulting the registry of doctors of the various specialistcolleges in Angola.

From February 2011 to March 2019, 111 physicians weretrained in 32 specialties; there was a greater increase of 50% ormore in 6 specialties, with emphasis on geriatrics, haematology,nuclear medicine, surgical oncology and sleep medicine that hadno specialists.

The lack of specialist doctors is a very commonproblem in low-income countries; on the other hand, highincomecountries are already beginning to limit training in somespecialties due to lack of labour market. The Angolan cooperationmodel could be adopted by several countries to promote aqualitative overall growth in health care.