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A number of resources are available to facilitate both the teaching and learning process when IMCI is introduced in pre-service training. These resources include WHO generic materials, materials developed in the Region and documentation of experiences. 

• WHO generic materials

• Regional IMCI pre-service education package

• Materials developed in countries in the region

• Documentation of Regional experiences

These materials need to be adapted to be consistent with the national IMCI guidelines. They represent useful references for the preparation of local materials. 

IMCI Model Handbook 

The IMCI Model Handbook describes the IMCI technical guidelines in detail in just one document. As such, it is a useful and handy reference to faculty, especially when they are trained in IMCI and at the beginning of their teaching of IMCI elements, before such elements have been incorporated in the teaching materials used by that institution.  

IMCI Model Chapter for Textbooks 

This reference is meant to assist those involved in teaching in adapting their local textbooks. 

IMCI Reference Library of Selected Materials

As the title suggests, this is an annotated, selected bibliography which provides the evidence base of the IMCI guidelines. It comes with a companion CD-ROM for practical consultation.

Technical updates of the guidelines on the IMCI. Evidence and recommendations for further adaptations

This document, published in 2005, provides new evidence which has become available since the IMCI guidelines were first developed and is therefore a useful reference for further adaptations of teaching and learning texts. Any adaptation work should be coordinated closely with the ministry of health to ensure that all IMCI guidelines and materials used in a country are consistent with the national policy.

Management of the child with a serious infection or severe malnutrition.
Guidelines for care at the first-referral level in developing countries

This manual presents guidelines for in-patient management of young children at first-referral hospital level consistent with the IMCI outpatient classifications and treatment guidelines. As such, it complements the IMCI outpatient guidelines and may serve as a useful reference also for pre-service training.

IMCI: Planning, implementing and evaluating pre-service training

This document was prepared in August 2001 to provide some guide on IMCI pre-service training. It remains a good source of information on this topic. Since then, additional information has become available, including experience in the Region, which has been the basis for preparing the updated section on pre-service education of this Regional website.

Other resources

To view a list of other generic resources on IMCI pre-service training, click here.

Training materials used in in-service training are also useful references for pre-service education. These materials include among others: 

• The adapted IMCI chart booklet for most countries in the Region and wall charts. The booklet contains the IMCI technical guidelines presented as charts and tables for easy consultation.

• Mother’s card (health provider counselling aid on home care)

• Photo booklet (a photo library of cases to show key signs used in the IMCI syndromic approach)

• IMCI video (guiding the use of the IMCI charts through real cases)

• Case recording forms

• “Facilitator guide for outpatient clinical practice” and “Guide for clinical practice in the inpatient ward”  Top

The IMCI pre-service education package has been developed by the Regional Office in close collaboration with medical schools in the Region to assist teaching institutions in introducing, implementing and assessing undergraduate teaching programmes that include the IMCI approach. The package comprises the following publications.

1. IMCI pre-service education: orientation and planning workshop: facilitator guide is designed to assist in the conduct of in-depth participatory workshops for teaching institutions to develop plans to introduce IMCI into the teaching programmes. The guide, tested in an intercountry workshop in July 2009, includes detailed guidelines, presentations and tools to support this task.

2. IMCI pre-service education: teaching sessions, with lesson plans to support planning and conduct of IMCI-related teaching sessions within the paediatric and community medicine teaching programmes, describes the student learning objectives, content and procedures of each session. The content was thoroughly reviewed by an expert group in 2008.

3. IMCI pre-service education: guide to evaluation is a comprehensive tool to assess whether IMCI pre-service education as a public health intervention improves students’ competencies in managing main childhood health problems in outpatient settings. Extensively reviewed through expert consultations and tested in four medical schools, this guide comes with a user guide to data entry and analysis and a CD with the relevant

e-forms and programme files.

4. IMCI pre-service education: question bank is a resource library of multiple-choice questions and case scenarios suitable for evaluations of IMCI pre-service education and student formative and summative assessments. It has already been used to develop student knowledge tests for evaluations in two medical schools, in 2009.

5. IMCI pre-service education: e-lectures on CD provides standard technical content as a resource to support IMCI-related teaching.

6. IMCI pre-service education: e-learning material for students on DVD is designed to support students’ learning at their own pace through an electronic, interactive medium.

As schools introduce IMCI, materials for IMCI training are adapted and new materials are developed by the schools.

IMCI student’s notes, Egypt

Developed in 1999 and revised in 2004 by Prof Ahmed Madkour, University of Alexandria, Egypt, in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office, the “Notes” have been developed to give medical students a general overview of IMCI and be a key resource together with the IMCI chart booklet. The “IMCI student’s notes” have since been used by the large majority of medical schools in Egypt which have introduced IMCI into their programmes, incorporated in local textbooks of paediatrics or used as a reference for the development of adapted versions (e.g., in Al Minya University). 

Student’s manual, Sudan

This student’s manual was developed by the National IMCI pre-service Task Force, Sudan, to give medical students a general overview of IMCI. It focuses on the assessment, classification, and identification of treatment for the different conditions covered by IMCI, and counselling.   Top

IMCI pre-service in the University of Alexandria, Egypt, August 2001

(By Prof Ahmed A. Madkour, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria).
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