The University of Bologna is working in Tanzania to strengthen digital teaching, training and academic cooperation in the field of global health. This is being made possible by the BRIDGE project, coordinated by the University of Bologna, which has just launched with a kick-off meeting in Dar es Salaam. The project is co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education programme (Grant Agreement No. 101237925).
BRIDGE comprises two training programmes in the area of Global Health: a continuing education and career development programme for healthcare staff, and a Summer School for medical students. In addition, new digital teaching tools will be developed, and dedicated activities will be put in place to strengthen the skills of academic staff.
"The project involves setting up two hubs in Tanzania — one in Ifakara, in the Morogoro region, focusing on rural health priorities, and one in Dar es Salaam, dedicated to urban health challenges," explains Tommaso Tonetti, a professor at the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, who coordinates the project. "The aim is to help build a more skilled and resilient healthcare workforce, capable of addressing the major contemporary challenges in global health."
The kick-off meeting in Dar es Salaam was also attended by representatives of local institutions, including the European Union Delegation to Tanzania, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tanzania. Together with them, the project partners are working to establish a stable, long-term collaboration.
Coordinated by the University of Bologna, the BRIDGE partnership (Building Resilient Institutions for Development in Global Health Education) is designed to bring together complementary expertise, with a particular focus on the differences and connections between urban and rural healthcare settings.
Alongside the University of Bologna, the partners include the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece), ReadLab (Greece), St. Francis University College of Health and Allied Sciences (Tanzania), the Tanzanian Training Centre for International Health (Tanzania) and Kairuki University (Tanzania); associated partners include the Ifakara Health Institute (Tanzania) and St. Francis Regional Referral Hospital (Tanzania).
