Peer training and co-learning in global health care.

BACKGROUND: The Zambia Anaesthesia Development Project (ZADP) is a an international health care partnership between the UK and Zambia, designed to mutually benefit anaesthetic registrars from both countries in aspects deficient in their native training schemes. CONTEXT: The ZADP evolved from an initial plan to support a new anaesthesia training programme in Zambia, with visiting trainees providing continuity that was missing from short-term consultant visits. The primary goal of the project was to improve patient safety and care by delivering teaching, and by developing management, leadership and governance structures. An important reciprocal goal was to provide a unique training experience for a UK registrar in a resource-poor environment, including the resulting clinical and non-clinical challenges. This model adds a useful dimension to the educational support provided, and also embodies the principle of co-development IMPLICATIONS: The ZADP and the Zambia Master of Medicine (MMed) Anaesthesia programme provides an example of a cross-cultural peer-directed co-learning model that benefits trainees from developed and developing postgraduate training programmes. This synergistic model is one that could be applied to other educational initiatives supported from overseas. This model not only adds a useful dimension to the educational support provided, but also embodies the principle of co-development that is so important to the sustainability of such projects.