Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine Course

Frequently Asked Questions

About the course

A graduate degree in Modern Medicine (MBBS or equivalent) and a minimum of two years of work experience post-internship.
No, the course is open for all medical doctors with an interest and passion for tropical medicine, public health, and humanitarian work.
A panel of academicians, clinicians, and humanitarian aid professionals review each application. The panel takes the final call in the selection of the candidates. Candidates who are planning to / currently work or have worked in resource limited or complex humanitarian settings and have no access to post-graduate education are prioritized.
The course is designed only for medical doctors.
No, the course is open for all medical doctors, irrespective of their workplace.
The GHHM Course is highly demanding, and the enrolled students will need to meet the strict attendance requirement. Therefore, we encourage potential applicants to defer their application if they have taken any other full-time courses or have other pressing professional commitments. Any requests for deferral after admission will only be for exigent circumstances. In such cases, the decision of the GHHM committee is final and binding on the candidate.

Funding

Since MSF already subsidizes the course, there are no individual scholarships. However, we encourage students to seek out external scholarships. The students are welcome to reach out to us after their acceptance, and we will be happy to provide a letter of approval for applying to scholarship programmes.
No, there is no payback period associated with this course of any kind.

Course structure

It is a ten-month course. It runs from September to June.
This is an online course, which requires a student to attend a webinar/lecture on a real-time basis. The classes run from 1600-1800 IST every Thursday. The lectures can be accessed remotely using Zoom on a computer or a mobile phone. Additionally, the course has some mandatory activities which must be completed on the online platform.
The course broadly covers the syllabus for the DTM&H examination with an additional focus on working in humanitarian contexts. This course comprises an array of topics, ranging from Tropical diseases and Parasitology, Public Health, Maternal, and Child Health, Humanitarian crises / Complex Emergencies to non-communicable diseases.
Additionally, there is a minimum of 12 of Basic Microscopy and Parasitology Training.
The webinars are hosted virtually from MSF South Asia /UK or collaborating institutes in South Asia.
To complete the GHHM course, you must either attend the in-person training or attend the virtual laboratory training sessions synchronously. The requirement for in-person parasitology training for the DTM&H exam is subject to the discretion of the examining body. Please refer to the DTM&H webpage to learn more about the current requirements.
The weekly lectures run from 16:00 to 18:00 IST every Thursday, but may go over time by about 15-20 minutes. You are expectedto spare approximately two and a half hours every week for these lectures. In addition, there are weekly quizzes and fortnightly (mandatory) group activities that you have to complete before the given deadlines. This amounts to additional 2 hours per week. For each group activity, there will be a deadline of completion; you will have to complete that activity before the deadline. Your contribution to the group activity is marked as attendance. We recommend that students be willing to commit 6-8 hours of self-directed learning per week for an optimal learning experience.
The minimum requirement for the course completion is:
70% attendance in the weekly webinars.
Contribution to 70% of the online group activities
Participation in the 16 hours of parasitology laboratory training
Participation in the Mock Exam
Like all part-time courses, enrollment to the GHHM course will require consistent effort and time, along with your other professional and personal commitments. If you are struggling to meet requirements, please contact the South Asia GHHM Team at the earliest.
Failure to meet any of the attendance mentioned above criteria, which also includes contributing to 70% of online group activities or attending 70% of the lectures, would result in ineligibility to receive the GHHM Course Completion Certificate. If candidates do not complete the GHHM Course and receive the Course Completion Certificate, they will be unable to sit the DTM&H exam.
You will not be eligible to write the DTM&H examination and your GHHM course remains incomplete.

Examination and Course Completion

1. Morning – 100 'best of five' questions, 16 of which are based on clinical images designed to test the candidate's knowledge of tropical medicine and hygiene over a wide area (3 hours). 2. Afternoon – Preventive medicine (5 questions over 1 hour) and Parasitology/Entomology ''short answer'' papers (1.5 hours).
No, it is not.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, India and UK used to host the exam, and a student could write the exam at any of the two sites. However, the exam has been moved online due to the current pandemic. The guidelines for the 2022 exam have not been released yet.
A student can attempt the exam up to 6 times.
Yes, on successful completion of the course, MSF will provide a certificate of completion.
Yes, as long as you have completed the GHHM course successfully, you will receive a Course Completion Certificate. The certificate, in itself, has indefinite validity. It also enables you to write the exam upto 5 years after completing the course.
Yes, as long as you have completed the GHHM course successfully.
Yes, you will have to pay the DTM&H examination fees to the organisation administering the exam.

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