​Message from the Programme Director

Welcome to the Department of Family Medicine at Aga Khan University, Tanzania!

Family Medicine is a relatively new but very important specialty in Tanzania. This is an academic discipline that takes a holistic, bio-psycho-social approach to health which is critical for the integration of health care in the national health system. Our mission is to train outstanding broad spectrum family medicine physicians to work in the community and be leaders with high quality, affordable care provided in a collaborative work environment.

The curriculum is currently designed to broadly prepare the physician for Family Medicine in an urban and semi-urban setting. Therefore, it includes a strong emphasis on medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, emergency medicine, behavioral medicine and surgical procedures.

During the four-year course, residents have increasing responsibilities in patient care, management of their own continuing education and participation in the management of the outreach health clinics in Dar es Salaam. This program provides competency based training which includes facilitative bedside teaching, case based learning and peer learning which promotes critical thinking, contextual and evidence based acquisition of knowledge.

The program strives to help physicians develop a sustainable medical lifestyle that will provide them with long-term satisfaction and deep meaning and inspiration in the practice of Family Medicine. It also ensures that the residents are equipped to deal with the complexity of health care in the 21st Century.

I hope that the information presented here stimulates your interest in our program and that you will want to know more about becoming a part of our team! Looking forward to learning and working with you! 

Dr Nancy Matillya, MD, MMED 
Programme Director  
Department of Family Medicine 
Aga Khan University, Medical College, East Africa.