Challenges and perspectives of teaching embryology in a low-income setting: Cameroon

---

Gregory Halle-Ekane

University of Buea, Cameroon

: Androl Gynecol: Curr Res

Abstract

---

The broad and dynamic nature of embryology has always made it a difficult topic to teach. Following the dramatic explosion of molecular embryology from the early 1990s, educators are faced with the dilemma of what should be taught to students within the limited hours of lecture. A medical embryology course should provide students the scientific basis for understanding mechanisms underlying both normal and abnormal development and provide avenues for medical research. To achieve this, different tools which have been developed to facilitate the teaching of this course are quasi inexistent in most low-income countries. This presentation aims at highlighting the challenges and perspectives in the teaching of embryology in a low-income setting with the hope of enhancing inter-university partnership as a measure to fill this gap.

Biography

---

Gregory Halle-Ekane is a practicing Obstetrician and Gynaecologist working in the Buea Regional Hospital and the Douala General Hospital, Douala. The latter is a tertiary centre that serves the Central African sub region. He is currently, the Vice Dean In-Charge of Research and Cooperation in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bueaand also the country’s Coordinator for the Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Switzerland. He is Consultant Sector Editor for the African Journal of Integrated Health and a peer reviewer of six international journals. Since 1996, he participated in the design and oversees some screening and treatment of cervical cancer programs at the local and national levels. He has also been involved in many research projects in the area of maternal and perinatal health. He coordinates research and teaching activities between the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Buea and other health facilities in Cameroon (e.g. Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services and Catholic Health Services) working to improve health care through educational, research and clinical care improvement collaborations. Specifically, he mentors and supervises local and visiting Ob/Gyn trainees including visitors to the CBCHS through the UAB-Cameroon Health Care Collaboration Initiative. He also mentors fellows of the Afya Bora Consortium and collaborates with other US Universities (Universities of Arizona and Washington).

E-mail: e: halle-ekane.edie@ubuea.cm