Amref Health Africa – Jibu
Health workers across Africa play a critical role in delivering frontline care, yet many face barriers to ongoing professional development. Acute workforce shortages, heavy workloads and limited access to continuing education can make it difficult for nurses and midwives to stay up to date with evolving clinical knowledge and best practices. Expanding access to high-quality training is essential to strengthening health systems and improving patient care across the region.
The Elsevier Foundation partnered with Amref Health Africa to support Jibu, a mobile learning platform designed to expand access to continuing education for nurses and midwives. Developed in collaboration with the Kenyan Ministry of Health, Rutgers University, the Nursing Council of Kenya and regional nursing training institutions, Jibu was created to provide accessible learning resources through mobile technology. The platform’s name—Jibu, meaning “answer” in Swahili—reflects its goal of helping health workers access practical knowledge when they need it most.
Through this collaboration, the partnership supported efforts to strengthen health worker capacity by making professional learning more flexible, scalable and accessible across East Africa.
What we do
The partnership supported the development and expansion of the Jibu mobile learning application, which enabled nurses and midwives to access training materials and professional development resources directly through their mobile phones.
Initially piloted in Kenya, the platform quickly demonstrated strong demand from healthcare workers seeking credible and up-to-date learning materials. As the initiative expanded with support from the Elsevier Foundation, the program grew into a broader regional effort serving health workers across several East African countries.
The platform offered a growing catalogue of courses designed to support continuing professional development. These courses covered topics relevant to everyday clinical practice and health system leadership, including areas such as infectious disease management, child health, and leadership and governance in healthcare settings. Many courses were developed to align with professional regulatory standards, supporting accreditation and recognition by nursing councils.
How we deliver
Jibu used mobile technology to make continuing education accessible to health workers regardless of location. By enabling training through mobile phones, the program reduced the need for nurses and midwives to leave their workplaces or travel long distances to attend training sessions.
To further support scale and sustainability, Amref expanded the initiative into a broader digital learning ecosystem by upgrading its learning management system into an integrated e-Campus platform. This platform brought together multiple digital learning solutions in one place, enabling health workers to access training, information and professional development opportunities more easily.
Through these efforts, thousands of health professionals enrolled in mobile learning courses, demonstrating the strong demand for flexible and accessible training tools. The initiative also supported collaboration with regulatory bodies to strengthen continuing professional development frameworks for nurses and midwives.
By supporting the Jibu platform, the Elsevier Foundation contributed to efforts to expand digital learning for health workers and strengthen healthcare capacity across East Africa. The partnership demonstrated how mobile technology can help address training gaps and support the professional development of frontline health workers in resource-constrained settings.
