B3. Oral Session: Strengthening Health Systems through Training and Leadership: Lessons Learned from Africa
B3.02 - Oral Session: Training, Teaching, and Engaging: A Holistic Model for Biomedical Informatics Capacity Strengthening in Mozambique
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
2:00 PM - 2:30 PM PST
Location: Galleria, Ballroom Level
Area of Responsibility: Area VII: Leadership and Management Keywords: Global Health, Subcompetencies: 7.2.4 Plan training, including technical assistance and support., Research or Practice: Practice
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Identify elements for developing successful university programs that train a variety of learners (including undergraduate, graduate, faculty, and community members).
Apply a multi-prong approach in building a training program.
Design an ongoing evaluation structure that provides continuous feedback for program implementation and improvement.
Brief Abstract Summary: Discover how a three-pronged, locally-rooted biomedical informatics (BMI) capacity strengthening model is transforming biomedical informatics education and research in Mozambique. This strategy incorporates faculty fellowships, curriculum integration, and community workshops to drive sustainable change, improve biomedical informatics competencies, and strengthen research capacity. Essential to the program’s success are continuous evaluation and cross-cultural communication and learning. Learn how you can replicate this strategy to build sustainable training programs.
Detailed abstract description: Background
Biomedical informatics (BMI) integrates human health, information sciences, and biological sciences. In sub-Saharan Africa, significant gaps in BMI capacity hinder progress in health innovation and data-driven decision-making. Capacity strengthening initiatives have emerged to address these gaps, but many focus narrowly on either health informatics or bioinformatics and often lack sustainability and ongoing evaluation. To overcome these limitations, the Vanderbilt-Mozambique Biomedical Informatics (VM-BMI) program introduces a comprehensive, sustainable approach to BMI capacity strengthening. In this presentation, attendees will learn about a three-pronged approach with continuous evaluation that can be applied to large scale capacity strengthening projects.
Methods
VM-BMI implements a three-pronged strategy to build and sustain BMI training and research programs at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM), Mozambique’s largest university. The strategy includes:
1. Faculty Fellowship Program: This year-long fellowship trains UEM faculty in BMI through coursework, intensive research training, grant writing, and mentorship from senior faculty. Fellows receive funding to conduct pilot HIV-focused BMI research.
2. BMI Track within a Master’s Program: VM-BMI is collaborating with UEM to develop a new BMI track within the Master of Computer Science program. The curriculum includes BMI-specific courses, taught by Fellows, and a BMI-focused research theses.
3. Workshops and Bootcamps: VM-BMI hosts regular hands-on training sessions open to UEM and the broader community. These sessions cover practical BMI skills and provide opportunities to share research.
The program leaders evaluate courses individually and holistically and use pre- and post-surveys to assess participant progress and outcomes of workshops and bootcamps.
Results
Eight UEM faculty fellows completed five BMI courses and lead independent research projects. Course evaluations indicate high confidence in the content (4.6 on 5-point scale, 5=high), positive perceptions of the learning environment (4.8/5), and effective instruction (4.8/5). Workshops have included "Introduction to BMI" and "Grant Writing,” both with strong ratings from the 66 participants. Two bootcamps on digital health tools (DHIS and OpenMRS) showed 60% increase in participants’ (n=57) technical skills related to these platforms. Program leaders review evaluation feedback and use it to continuously refine the program.
Interpretation
VM-BMI is the first comprehensive BMI capacity strengthening initiative in sub-Saharan Africa that spans the full scope of the field. By integrating interdisciplinary training, sustainability-focused strategies, local context adaptation, and continuous evaluation, the program addresses critical gaps in BMI capacity and offers a replicable model for similar settings.
