In 2013, a Challenge Grant ($100,000 over 3 years, 2014-2016) was awarded to Global Emergency Care Collaborative (GECC) for an expansion of its training program in acute/emergency care in Uganda. Since 2008, GECC has trained Ugandan nurses to become a new cadre of mid-level provider, the Emergency Care Practitioner (ECP), who can, with limited resources, accurately evaluate and efficiently treat patients.
For 2014 and 2015, GECC streamlined its internal structure by hiring an Operations Director, allowing its physicians to concentrate on educational programming, research, and publications. An important partnership has been formed with Ronald McDonald House Charities to expand the ECP program from Nyakibale Hospital to a large, public, referral hospital in Masaka, Uganda. In 2015, GECC, in partnership with Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), developed an emergency medicine residency program. This program is a post-doctorate 3-year emergency medicine specialty program, leading to a Master of Medicine degree.
Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) in Nairobi, Kenya, has negotiated to partner with GECC to replicate the ECP program. KMTC is a dedicated center of excellence in the training and development of competent, multidisciplinary health professionals and trains the majority of Clinical Officers in Kenya. GECC and KMTC has developed a Post-Basic Diploma in Acute and Emergency Medicine program and curriculum. For 2016, GECC has submitted grant proposals to Kenyan and American foundations to fund this new training program.