Understanding global health issues: are international medical electives the answer?

Medical student electives havecome a long way since theirintroduction in the 1970s. One ofthe authors of this commentaryremembers (fondly) his elective inUganda, shortly after its liberationfrom the murderous Oboteregime, and just as the HIV epi-demic took hold. Negotiating roadblocks manned by 13-year-oldsbrandishing Kalashnikovs seemedexciting and character-building,although we doubt if many med-ical schools today would supportan equivalent experience in, say,the Democratic Republic ofCongo or Somalia. Preparationand support from the medicalschool was close to non-existent,whereas now there would almostcertainly be briefings about howto minimise risks such as thosefrom HIV, malaria and road trafficaccidents. This experience con-trasts in terms of its organisation,although probably not in educa-tional impact, with the interna-tional electives at MaastrichtMedical School described in theevaluation study reported byNiemantsverdriet et al.