Belinda MacMillian is a pediatrician at Beira Central Hospital, in Mozambique and was the first doctor to provide pediatric neurology appointments in the hospital. She spent time at Lisbon’s  Estefânia Hospital on the Medicina Entrepares Program with the neuro-pediatric specialist Ana Isabel Dias for training in electroencephalography, both for the technical component and for the interpretation of electroencephalograms (EEGs), fundamental for defining and diagnosing epilepsy in children and hitherto non-existent at the Beira Hospital.

The Medicina Entrepares Program was designed with the objective of strengthening medical training in the PALOPs across the clinical specialty of Pediatrics/Neonatology, Obstetrics, Gynecology, Internal Medicine and Oncology through in-person and distance mentoring with specialists in these clinical specialty in Portugal.

Structured for periods of between 12 and 18 months, the program includes not only the visit of these doctors to Portuguese hospitals and health institutions but also visits by Portuguese doctors to the former’s institution. The relationship established between the peers enables continuous learning processes through the mutual exchange of knowledge and the acquisition of specific competences as regards real clinical situations in their respective specialist fields.