New Bachelors Degree Program in Health Informatics in Ethiopia: Curriculum Content and Development Approaches

With a widespread use of information technology in healthcare organizations, there is a pressing need for professionals who are both skilled in the use and management of information systems and knowledgeable in the field of healthcare. To fill this need, the department of health informatics at the University of Gondar started a new bachelor's degree in the health informatics program commencing in 2012. The curriculum was developed by a thorough needs assessment and considering the recommendations of the international medical informatics association. The program has duration of 4 years with a total of 249 ECTS. Currently there are 57 students enrolled in the program and 15 full time academic staffs are involved in the teaching and research activity of the department. To share our experience for other countries, in this paper we explain the curriculum development process and its content to the health informatics community.