title: An interventional model to develop health professionals in West Africa.
abstract: The health sector is characterized by a human resource base lacking in numbers, specialized skills, and management skills. West African Health Organization (WAHO) recognizes the need within the West Africa sub-region for bilingual professionals who are skilled in public health, management, leadership, and information technology to build human capacity in public health and developed the Young Professionals Internship Program (YPIP). Our study explores the evolution of the programme. YPIP program has successfully carried out its original aims and objectives to equip young professionals with basic principles of public health, management, and leadership, acquire competence in a second official language (French, English, and Portuguese), information and communication technology. Contributing factors towards this successful evaluation included positive ratings and commentary from previous interns about the relevance, usefulness, and quality of the programme, encouraging feedback from WAHO management, trainers, administrators, and intern employers on the impact of the YPIP program on young professionals, supporting evidence that demonstrates increased knowledge in professional skills and language competency.
authors.affiliation: Centre MURAZ Research Institute, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso ; West African Health Organization, Headquarters, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Anselme Simeon
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Sanou
authors.affiliation: West African Health Organization, Headquarters, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Florence Adeola
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Awoyale
authors.affiliation: West African Health Organization, Headquarters, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Abdoulaye
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diallo
mesh_terms: D000288:Administrative Personnel / Q000193:education; D000354:Africa, Western; D002050:Burkina Faso; D003197:Computer Literacy; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006295:Health Resources; D006280:Health Workforce; D006801:Humans; D007254:Information Science / Q000193:education; D007397:Internship, Nonmedical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007857:Leadership; D019303:Multilingualism; D011361:Professional Competence; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education; D013192:Staff Development / Q000458:organization & administration*
keywords: Interventional model; West African Health Organization; health professional; human resource