Western Pacific Medical Education Association Executive Advisory Committee Member Dr Osborne E Nyandiva on Conference Presentation : Asia Pacific Medical Education conference in SINGAPORE The Asia Pacific Medical Education body held a conference in National University of Singapore from 6th – 14th January in Singapore. The conference was earmarked to address the needs of all medical institution under its umbrella. This attracted other organization that have had great impact on its improvement and accreditation of all medical school around the regions. Some of the organization that graced the occasion included Federation of World Medical Education (WFME), Australia New Zealand Colleges of Physicians, Western Pacific Association for Medical Education (WPAME), International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) and many more. The conference drew close to 189 nationalities including Africa that was presented by Ethiopia. All the pacific small Islands participated of which Samoa was non – exceptional.

1. Advisory Board Members, Singapore, January 2019
Conference Theme:
“Education for Health – Trends, Issues, Priorities and Strategies”
REPORT ON ASIA PACIFIC MEDICAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2019
VENUE: NUS -SINGAPORE
DATES: 6TH
– 14TH
JANUARY 2019
Written by: Dr Osborne Embiruka Nyandiva
b
Introduction
The Asia Pacific Medical Education body held a conference in National University of Singapore from 6th – 14th January in
Singapore. The conference was earmarked to address the needs of all medical institution under its umbrella. This attracted other
organization that have had great impact on its improvement and accreditation of all medical school around the regions. Some of
the organization that graced the occasion included Federation of World Medical Education (WFME), Australia New Zealand
Colleges of Physicians, Western Pacific Association for Medical Education (WPAME), International Federation of Medical
Students’ Associations (IFMSA) and many more. The conference drew close to 189 nationalities including Africa that was
presented by Ethiopia. All the pacific small Islands participated of which Samoa was non – exceptional.
The photography shows the newly elected Western
Pacific Association for Medical Education. The member
state presented includes: Samoa, Fiji Papua New
Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan,
Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Laos,
Japan, Cambodia, Mongolia, Korea and World
Federation for Medical Education.
Advisory Committee:
President -Dr Dujeepa Samarasekera , Singapore
Secretary General-Dr. Osborne Nyandiva – Samoa
Corporate Treasurer- Dr Shuh Shing Lee, Singapore
Vice President Prof.Pete Ellis, New Zealand
Past President Prof. Michael Field, Australia

2. Advisory Board Members, Singapore, January 2019
The Conference goals and Objective
The Asian Pacific Medical Education Conference aimed at
fostering and equalizing medical education across the Asia and
pacific region by creating a caucus that will champion medical
school accreditation and thus increasing the competitiveness of
the education amongst the member states which will in turn
improve quality of medical graduands. This was the 9th sittings of
the Asian Pacific Medical Education Conference. For the first time
since its inception Samoa had its representative under the
umbrella of National University of Samoa – Faculty of Health
Sciences.
Samoa was accorded cordial welcoming because over the days it
had never attended any of the session that were held previously.
This with majority votes from all the member states, the Samoa
was voted to have its representative to Advisory Committee and
equally appointed the representative Dr Osborne Embiruka
Nyandiva as the General Secretary for the Western Pacific
Association for Medical Education (WPAME). This was informed
by the fact that the Samoa Representative having there for first
time was able to shed on the improvements the National University
of Samoa has tremendous had since the visitation by the
(WPAME) following their recommendation. The Samoa
Representative highlighted the milestone and, transitions and
transformation the School of Medicine has gone through e.g.
rejuvenation of Faculties, Infrastructures and learning
environments away from before.
Unanimously, the advisory Committee felt that by bringing to the
board and endorsing the Representative would have positive
impact that will equally transcends to great heights of improvement
as the institution works toward accreditation Moments after presentations with Prof.Michael Field
Some of Presentations
The Short Communications, Posters and Presentation.
National University of Samoa had four presentations and “Fostering well-being in learning environment: the imperative of
medical Educators” was voted the first runners and the best short-communication. Other presentations included: Managing
Hand Infection Without Antibiotic – Pathologist Perspective Views, Managing Medical Trainees in Difficulty, Common
and Real Pitfalls in Diagnostic Reasoning” These were presentation by Dr Osborne Embiruka Nyandiva and moderated by
Professor Michael Field.
9TH
Session of WPAME. Welcoming of new Member States and
inauguration of new Advisory Committee address by President Dr
Dujeepa Samarasekera

3. Advisory Board Members, Singapore, January 2019
The Outcomes of the Conference
The Asian Pacific Medical Education Conference has remained focused in bringing together all members states and through its
authentical support, it has continued to foster excellent ties with all international accreditation bodies to its member organizations.
Through the Western Pacific Association for Medical Education body, the advisory committee agreed to lobby other health
institution tirelessly supports juvenile member states like Samoa and Laos.
The advisory Committee also assured other great institutions of their support and work closely with them in order to set records
for other members’ state to emulate.
The Way Forwards
Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference through its secretariat
stated that, the conference will continue to be held annually and it
argued the member states to continue working together with other
governments agencies, WPAME, WFME and WHO by ensuring
that, schools of medicine develop its procedures, policies,
standards and curriculum that will be in compliance with the
standards for accreditation as contained in The Principles of
Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement.
Following the (WPAME) Accreditation Fast-Track in 2017,
advisory committees stated that it will assist National University of
Samoa to achieve its goal to have all the medical undergraduate
program get accredited soonest. The Samoa representative
assured the member states that, School of Medicine believes that,
through the rigorous accreditation policy, it will be able to ensure
its academic programs are built with the capacity to improve
student learning and make continuous school improvement a part
of National University of Samoa ’s academic culture.
References.
1. http://wpame.org.au/about/members/
2. http://wpame.org.au/events/advisory-board-meetings/
3. http://medicine.nus.edu.sg/cenmed/apmec16/documents/Addendum%20Conference%20Handbook.pdf
Final Day Party for the Advisory Committee Members
During the welcoming for all the member who had attended the WPAME
9th Session for the first Day and during the Poster presentations