Regulation of Allied Health Professionals in Africa

In 2002 the Commonwealth Secretariat contracted Allen & Clarke to provide advice on options for regulating allied health professionals in East, Southern and Central Africa (ESCA).

For the first stage of the project, Allen & Clarke produced a literature review of best practice allied health professional regulation. This examined how allied health professionals were regulated in Africa and other countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

This information was incorporated into a discussion paper and questionnaire, which was distributed to the 14 ESCA countries in late 2002, to inform countries about regulatory options and regulatory decision-making, and obtain further information on how allied health professionals were being regulated in the region. Allen & Clarke made in-country visits to Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia to interview government health officials, staff working for various health professional councils and associations, and senior staff in some training institutions and hospitals.

Allen & Clarke then produced a final report for the Commonwealth Regional Health Community Secretariat and ECSA countries and a fact sheet for Health Ministers in the region. These two documents included recommendations on what we considered appropriate regulatory options for such health professionals in the region. The report included:

• Theoretical information on how health professionals are regulated;
• An analysis of how allied health professionals are regulated in ECSA countries (and other countries internationally);
• An analysis of five potential regulatory models, which could be used by ECSA countries;
• Potential model legislative provisions, which could be adapted for any new law enacted by ECSA countries to regulate allied health professionals;
• The option of a regional regulatory body for the ECSA region;
• Information sharing issues;
• A framework for good regulatory decision making; and
• Implementation issues.

A copy of our report is available here: http://www.allenandclarke.co.nz/uploads/Final.doc