Objective: To describe the 1-year experience of a unique postgraduate medical education program set in Eritrea, a recently war-torn country. Design: The Partnership for Eritrea, a cooperative between The George Washington University Medical Center, Physicians for Peace, and the Eritrean Ministry of Health, formed a surgical residency program, launched January 2, 2008, in Asmara, Eritrea, to train native Eritrean surgeons. No prior residency program (to our knowledge) had existed in Eritrea.

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... ing: Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa. Patients: Five Eritrean physicians participated in the surgical residency. Main Outcome Measures: The number of operations performed, length of stay, antibiotic use, and intravenous fluid use. Results: The number of operations increased and resource use decreased because of improved and standardized clinical management. Conclusions: The Partnership for Eritrea established a general surgical residency program that improved clinical care in a resource-poor country that previously had lacked postgraduate training. The program experience suggests a model that can be reproduced in other developing countries.