From the Global North to the Global South: the role of international medicine in the preparation of students for experiential learning in countries with limited resources.

Abstract

Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda, has established partnerships with several other institutions around the world. Some of these are the University of Brescia and “Magna Græcia” University, which have agreed on a collaboration whose main objective is student exchange. We collected the experiences of some of the students who participated in the medical electives born from this partnership, integrating, and comparing them with other data and similar experiences in literature, analyzing the importance of adequate preparation in global health and ethical collaboration. Medical electives represent a unique opportunity for medical students, not only for those who will work in resource-limited settings due to an increasingly globalized world. The emergence of ethical international collaborations is of paramount importance to stimulate these projects and to ensure that they take place safely and with adequate preparation even and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.