Background: The Association of Surgeons of East Africa (ASEA) was formed in 1952. In 1996 a Steering Committee was formed to transform ASEA into a surgical college. The College of Surgeons of East Central and Southern Africa was officially launched in December 1999 in Nairobi, Kenya. Today the College consists of 14 constituent member countries but trains in 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Programmes: COSECSA runs a 5 year training programme in all the surgical specialties. In the first 2 years trainees do the Membership (MCS) programme. This is followed by 3 years of the Fellowship (FCS) programme. More recently the College has started a 2 year sub-specialty Fellowship in paediatric orthopaedics.
Graduates: The main aim of the College was to expand and improve surgical training in the COSECSA region. This goal was partially realised in December 2020 when the total number of surgeons produced by the College from inception reached 557.
Retention: Another key success story of COSECSA is that the majority of graduates have remained in the region leading to a high retention rate of 88.3%.
Women in surgery africa (wisa): Since the formation of WISA in 2015 the College has witnessed an increase in the number of female trainees. Currently only 9% of surgeons in the region are women.
Conclusion: In its current Strategic Plan (2021-2025) COSECSA aims not only to increase the surgical workforce in the region but also to modernise its training programmes and strengthen its governance structures.
Keywords: ASEA; COSECSA; COSECSA graduates; Centres of excellence; History; RCSI; Surgical training; Surgical workforce; WISA.
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