Why social accountability of medical schools in Sudan can lead to better primary healthcare and excellence in medical education?

Introduction: Medical education in Sudan continues to evolve and progress with proliferation in the number of medical schools after 1990. Social factors and the geographical location of Sudan will increase the opportunity of success of medical schools to be socially accountable. In this analysis, we explained why social accountability is needed in Sudan and how this can enhance both excellence in medical education and primary health care, especially in rural areas.

Methodology: PubMed, scopus Medline, and Google Scholar were searched for published-English literature concerning social accountability of medical schools in Sudan and worldwide were reviewed regardless of the time limit. We have also included examples of medical schools from Sudan and the Middle East to reflect on their experience in social accountability.

Results: In this critical review, we have shown that social accountability will come with benefits for medical schools and the community. Implementation of social accountability in medical schools in Sudan will increase the effectiveness of medical schools' productivity, research output, and health service in urban and rural areas. There is an urgent need for social accountability alliance in Sudan to increase collaboration between medical schools. This will increase the benefits of social accountability for all stakeholders and also increases the competency in social medicine within the medical school curriculum.

Conclusion: Social accountability is regarded as a sign of excellence in medical education. Primary care physicians in Sudan are expected to be the leaders in the implementation of social accountability. This analysis answered two important questions about why medical schools in Sudan should be socially accountable? And do we need a special structure of social accountability in Sudan?