Formation initiale en allergologie dans les pays francophones : expérience marocaine

Abstract

Training in allergy exists in Moroccan medical schools, but it does not have the place that it should if we take into account the increased frequency of allergic diseases in Morocco (and elsewhere) and the increase in the demand for care that results. In our country, allergy is not recognized officially as a specialty and allergic patients are cared for either by pulmonary specialists or physicians with some training in allergy, or by generalists with a French medical school diploma or with an allergy diploma. There is no explicit allergy training program in the medical schools, but instead there are sessions on allergy presented in the different medical specialities from the second to the fifth years, in which immunology, asthma, eczema and urticaria, nasosinusoidal allergies, conjunctivitis and anaphylactic shock are considered. The amount of time devoted to teaching allergy does not exceed 30 h (which is 1.4% of the entire curriculum). During classes in the third cycle, allergy is not clearly separated from other subjects; only the pneumology–pthisiology specialist course includes in-hospital training in allergy. Instruction is very limited in the other specialities. Moroccan medical specialists have the possibility to learn allergy on their own by enrolling in a university course in allergy and clinical immunology that is sponsored by the Department of Pulmonary Diseases in Casablanca. In regard to continued medical education, this can be done under the aegis of specialist scientific societies and associations. In conclusion, the teaching of allergy includes only an introduction but the number of hours devoted to this subject remains limited and it is time to think about the allergy course of the future. This teaching remains underrepresented in the third cycle which is devoted to clinical practice. This speciality must be developed, and it is now time to ask whether it should not be recognized officially.