Part I. The Emergence of Degree-Granting Biomedical Engineering

Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa

INTRODUCTION

The disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) is definedas the overall health and life expectancy of differentcountries expressed as the number of years of life lostdue to ill health, disability or early death. An excellentinteractive 2012 world map of each country’s DALYexpressed in years lost per 100,000 population isavailable from the World Health Organization(WHO).7 Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, respectively,had DALYs in 2012 of 18,838 (15th), 22,775 (33rd)and 26,763 (50th) years lost. The global average in2012 was 38,780, essentially the same as Iraq (108th)and Bangladesh (109th). In contrast, not one countryin continental Sub-Saharan Africa had a DALY in2012 of less than the global average, and all of thecountries that had DALYs of greater than60,000 years lost were Sub-Saharan except for Afgha-nistan and Haiti. While there has been a reduction ofthe relative Sub-Saharan DALY numbers and someshifting in the rankings since the original 2000 WHOcensus,7 the overall global DALY picture for Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most challenging.

Characteristic of Sub-Saharan medical clinics is theaccumulation of mostly routine instrumentation thatlies unused or in disrepair due to a lack of a skilledworkforce and/or readily available spare parts.2,4

Correcting this situation is largely the role of thebiomedical engineer (BME). According to the 2016WHO comprehensive report Human Resources forMedical Devices: The Role of Biomedical Engineers,again the U.S., Mexico and Canada, respectively,have 49, 24 and 18 BMEs per 1 M people; whereasBotswana is the only Sub-Saharan country withgreater than 10 BMEs per 1 M people.9 In fact, 68%of Sub-Saharan countries have one or less BMEs per1 M people, and many countries have none at all.9 Ina promising trend, several Sub-Saharan universitieshave responded to this disparity by starting BMEprograms and coalescing into professional BMEsocieties.

The above referenced 2016 WHO report, a mustread for those interested in increasing BME capacity inlow- and middle-income countries (LMICs),9 is acomprehensive description of the BME context in thesix WHO global regions. Appendix 2 of the report lists

52 Sub-Saharan institutions that have self-reported asoffering BME programs starting in the early 2000s.Seventeen of these programs list bachelor’s degrees inBME, and six list graduate BME degrees. Another 24programs only listed ‘‘other’’, which is commonly atwo-year or less biomedical technology degree pro-gram, similar to an associates degree or certificate inthe U.S. However, verifying the existence of theseprograms and learning about their curriculum can befrustrating to an individual or institution interested inestablishing a partnership with a Sub-Saharan BMEprogram.

This manuscript is the first of two editorials thatapprises the U.S. biomedical engineering (BME)community of the growing presence of BME programsin Sub-Saharan Africa (Part I) by providing verifiedreferencing of viable BME programs. The second edi-torial (Part II) encourages U.S. BME programs to getinvolved in their emergence through collaborativeeducational partnering.

SUB-SAHARAN BME PROGRAMS

The WHO Global BME Survey lists all self-re-ported BME educational programs in 2015.8 Twenty-two of these programs were housed in Sub-Saharanuniversities that use English as the language ofinstruction. Generic Internet searches were conductedto learn more about the characteristics of these pro-grams. Table 1 lists the bachelor’s and graduate de-gree granting BME programs that could be verifiedthrough this search. Programs without Internet evi-dence of existence were not included. Note: Five ofthe BME programs in Table 1 did not self-report forthe WHO survey, but were included as they becameknown to the authors. Note: the composition of website addresses can be quite fluid; this table designatesthem as of 2017.

PROFESSIONAL SUB-SAHARAN BME

SOCIETIES

The need for regular equipment procurement,management and repair (EPMR) of medical equip-

Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 45, No. 10, October 2017 (� 2017) pp. 2265–2268

DOI: 10.1007/s10439-017-1897-2

0090-6964/17/1000-2265/0 � 2017 Biomedical Engineering Society

2265

TABLE1.

BachelorLevelandGraduate-D

egreegrantingBMEProgramsin

Sub-SaharanAfrica(M

ain

Source:WHO

GlobalBMESurvey8).

Institution

Location

BMEdegreesoffered

BMEWebsite

asof2017

Addis

AbabaInstitute

ofTechnology

Addis

Ababa,Ethiopia

BS,MS

http://www.aau.edu.et/aait/academics/center-of-

biomedical-engineering/

Jim

maUniversity

Jim

ma,Ethiopia

BS

http://www.ju.edu.et/beco/node/72?q=node/78

AllNationsUniversity

Koforidua,Ghana

BS

http://www.anuc.edu.gh/home/academics/15/27/

academics.htm

l

KwameNkrumahUniversityofScience

andTechnology

Kumasi,Ghana

BS

https://www.archive.knust.edu.gh/pages/

index.php?site

id=

admissions&page=co

urse_detail&

progtype=ugd&id=471

UniversityofGhana

Accra,Ghana

BS,ME,MP,PhD

http://www.ug.edu.gh/biomed-eng/

ValleyView

University

Adentan,Ghana

C,D,BS

https://www.vvu.edu.gh/in

dex.php/biomedical-engineering

TechnicalUniversityMombasa

Mombasa

,Kenya

C,D,BS,BT

http://www.tum.ac.ke/departments/m

edical-engineering

Kenya

ttaUniversity

Nairobi,Kenya

BS

http://www.ku.ac.ke/schools/engineering/programmes/

undergraduate-programmes/91-programmes/285-

bachelor-of-science-biomedical-engineering.htm

l

MalawiUniversity

ofScience

andTechnology

Thyolo,Malawi

BS

http://www.m

ust.ac.m

w/department/engineering

UniversityofMalawi,ThePolytechnic

Blantyre,Malawi

D,BS

http://www.poly.ac.mw/faculty/engineering/

Bells

UniversityofTechnology

Ota,Nigeria

BE

http://www.bellsuniversity.edu.ng/admissions/

undergraduates/index.php?page=AvailableProgrammes

FederalUniversityofTechnology,Owerri

Owerri,Nigeria

BT,MS,PhD

http://www.futo.edu.ng/Schools/Health

/Biomedical.php

UniversityofLagos

Lagos,Nigeria

BS,MS

http://www.basmed.unilag.edu.ng/index.php/biomedical-

engineering-unit/

UniversityofPretoria

Pretoria,Republic

ofSouth

Africa

MS,PhD

http://www.up.ac.za/bioengineering

UniversityofCapeTown

CapeTown,Republic

ofSouth

Africa

MS,PhD

http://www.bme.uct.ac.za/bme/bme-programmes

UniversityofWitw

atersrand

Johannesburg,Republic

ofSouth

Africa

BS

https://www.wits.ac.za/course-finder/undergraduate/ebe/

biomedical-engineering/

Make

rere

University

Kampala,Uganda

BS

https://www.courses.m

ak.ac.ug/programmes/bachelor-

science-biomedical-engineering-0

Mbarara

University

ofScienceandTechnology

Mbarara,Uganda

BS

http://www.fast.must.ac.ug/about/

department/

department-of-biomedical-sciences-and-engineering

DDiploma,CCertificate,BEBachelorofEngineering,BSBachelorofScience

,BTBachelorofTechnology,

MSMasters

ofScience

,MEMasters

ofEngineering,MPMasters

ofPhilosophy,

PhD

Doctoraldegree.

B. PLOSS AND W. REICHERT2266

ment in a clinical setting is substantial in Sub-SaharanAfrica, and thus the current and primary emphasis ofmost Sub-Saharan BME programs. Consequently,many Sub-Saharan undergraduates pursuing a bache-lors degree in BME see EPMR as their likely careerpath.5,6 However, focusing solely on EPMR and justincreasing the pool of Sub-Saharan BMEs alone willnot necessary lead to increased employment opportu-nity without proper in-country vision and leadership.

Another encouraging trend is the growth of Sub-Saharan BME societies that connect professionals andstudents of mutual interests. Table 2 lists the BMEsocieties in Sub-Saharan Africa according to the WHOGlobal BME Survey for which viable web sites wereidentified. Also included are two Pan-Africa collabo-ratives and some additional societies known to theauthors, but not listed by the WHO BME survey.8

Like the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) andthe American Institute for Medical and BiologicalEngineering (AIMBE) in the U.S., Sub-Saharan BMEsocieties are able to advocate for curricular priorities,funding, regulation, and intellectual property policiesthat foster modern training and health technologyinnovation. The existence of BME student organiza-tions is also an important professional leveragingactivity, such as the Makerere University BiomedicalStudent Association and Engineering World Health(EWH) chapters at Makerere University and theUniversity of Ghana.1,3

CONCLUSION

The current manuscript, Part I, provides a verifiedlisting of degree granting Sub-Saharan BME programsthat is also limited to English-speaking institutions tomatch the U.S. language of instruction. These pro-grams and the associated societies provide an oppor-tunity for U.S. BME programs to partner with BMEprograms in Sub-Saharan Africa, thus broadeningcurricular capabilities and professional expectations.BME institutions in resource-limited environments areoften seeking opportunities for more up to date con-tent, expansion of course coverage, and obtainingcollaborations that lead to additional training andresearch support. These are opportunities that U.S.BME programs are well positioned to provide.

Part II presents illustrative examples of U.S. BMEprograms that have established collaborative partner-ships mainly in Malawi, Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda,as well as specific recommendations to consider whenplanning an education partnership with a Sub-SaharanBME program.

TABLE2.

Sub-SaharanBME

Societies(M

ain

Source:WHO

GlobalBMESurvey8).

Country

Society

name

Website

Ethiopia

EthiopianBiomedicalEngineeringAssociatio

nhttps://www.facebook.com/EthioBMES/

Gambia

Gambia

BiomedicalEngineeringTechnologists

Association

http://www.abetgambia.blogspot.com/2011/08/association-of-

biomedical-engineering.htm

l

Ghana

GhanaSociety

ofBiomedicalEngineers

http://www.ghanabiomedicalengineers.org

Cote

D’Ivoire

Syn

dicatNationaldesBiomedicauxdeCote

D’Ivoire

https://www.facebook.com/282225361904170/photos/pcb.7918

25117610856/791825070944194/?type=3

Kenya

Associatio

nofMedicalEngineeringofKenya

http://www.amek.or.ke/in

dex.php

Nigeria

NigerianInstitute

forBiomedicalEngineering

http://www.nigerianbme.org

PanAfrica

AfricanUnionofBiomedicalEngineeringandSciences

http://www.africanbmes.org

PanAfrica

AfricanBiomedicalEngineeringConsortium

http://www.abec-africa.org

Republic

ofSouth

Africa

South

AfricaChapter,IEEEEngineeringin

Medicine

andBiologySociety

http://www.embs.org/m

ember-communities/chapters/

Republic

ofSouth

Africa

ClinicalEngineeringAssociatio

nSouth

Africa

http://www.ceasa-national.org.za

Uganda

UgandaNationalAssociationforMedicalandHospital

Engineering

http://www.unamhe.org

Part I. The Emergence of Degree-Granting Biomedical Engineering Program 2267

REFERENCES

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7WHO. Age-standardized disability adjusted life year:DALY: rates (per 100,000 population), 2012. World HealthOrganization, 2014 (http://www.who.int/gho/mortality_burden_disease/countries/situation_trends_dalys/en/).8WHO. BME Global Survey. 2015 (http://www.who.int/medical_devices/support/en/).9WHO. Human resources for medical devices: the role ofbiomedical engineers. In: WHO Medical device technicalseries. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2017(http://www.who.int/medical_devices/publications/hr_med_dev_bio-engineers/en/).

William Reichert

Department of Biomedical Engineering,Duke University, Durham NC U.S.Electronic mail: reichert@duke.edu

Brittany Ploss

Department of Biomedical Engineering,Duke University, Durham NC U.S.

B. PLOSS AND W. REICHERT2268