Federal Ministry of Health Ethiopia

Directive on Continuing Professional

Development for Health Professionals

November, 2018
 Contents
Part One .......................................................................................................... 1
General............................................................................................................ 1
1. Title.................................................................................................... 1
2. Definition ........................................................................................... 1
3. Scope of applications ......................................................................... 2
4. Principles ........................................................................................... 2
Part Two ......................................................................................................... 3
Roles and Responsibilities .............................................................................. 3
5. Ministry ............................................................................................. 3
6. Regional Health Bureau/Regulatory Body ........................................ 4
7. Accreditors ........................................................................................ 5
8. CPD Providers ................................................................................... 7
9. Professional Associations .................................................................. 9
10. Health Professionals ...................................................................... 9
11. Employer ..................................................................................... 10
12. Development Partners ................................................................. 11
Part Three ..................................................................................................... 12
Accreditation and, Credit Allocation and Requirements .............................. 12
13. Accreditation of accreditor .......................................................... 12
14. Accreditation of CPD Provider ................................................... 12
15. Course Approval ......................................................................... 13
16. Credit allocation and requirement ............................................... 13
Part Four ....................................................................................................... 15
Miscellaneous ............................................................................................... 15
17. Conflict of interest ....................................................................... 15
18. Complaint handling ..................................................................... 15
19. Uncovered matters....................................................................... 15
20. Inapplicable laws ......................................................................... 15
21. Effective date .............................................................................. 15
Preamble
Whereas changing medical knowledge, evolving technology,
rapid organizational changes, increasing public expectations and
greater accountability necessitate the need for updating
professional competence;
Whereas continuing professional development will contribute to
the competency of health professionals and eventual
improvement of quality health services;
Whereas it is found necessary to systematically organize the
fragmented continuing professional development activities in
Ethiopia;
Whereas, to link with re-licensing, continuing professional
development is one of the main regulatory requirement provided
under the Food, Medicine and Healthcare Administration and
Control Regulation for re-licensure;
Now, therefore, the Ministry has adopted this directive as per the
delegation given by Ethiopian Food, Medicine and Health Care
Administration and Control Authority to perform all the CPD
activities given to the authority in accordance with article 55 (3)
of the Food, Medicine, Health Care Administration and Control
Proclamation and article 66 (1) of the Food, Medicine and
Healthcare Administration and Control Regulation.
 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

Part One
General
1. Title
This directive is cited as “Directive on Continuing
Professional Development for Health Professionals No.
/2018.”
2. Definition
Notwithstanding to the definition provided under
Proclamation No. 661/2009 and unless the context requires
otherwise in this directive:
1. “Continuing Professional Development” shall mean a
range of learning activities through which health
professionals maintain and develop throughout their
career to ensure that they retain their capacity to practice
safely, effectively and legally within their scope of
practice;
2. “Proclamation” shall mean the Food, Medicine and
Healthcare Administration and Control Proclamation No.
661/2009;
3. “Ministry” shall mean the Federal Democratic Republic
of Ethiopian Ministry of Health;
4. “Health professional” shall mean a health worker
involved in the promotive, preventive, curative, palliative
or rehabilitative health services licensed by the Ministry
or regional health regulatory bodies;
5. “Accreditation” shall mean a type of quality assurance
process under which potential continuing professional
development providers and CPD courses are evaluated by
an Accreditor;
6. “Continuing Education unit” shall mean the value
attached to a learning activity for continuing professional
development;

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

7. “Accreditor” shall refer to government universities or

health professionals association that shall be accredited by
the Ministry to Accredit CPD service providers and CPD
courses;
8. “CPD Service Provider” shall refer to public or private
institutions including universities, health science colleges,
professional associations, hospitals and other consultancy
firms with the experience of providing training and meet
the specified criteria and have been accredited by
accreditor to present learning activities for Continuing
Professional Development;
9. “Employer” shall mean any organization hiring a health
professional to practice in his/her profession;
3. Scope of applications
This directive governs all health professionals practicing in
Ethiopia, accreditors and CPD providers
4. Principles
1. No health professional shall be re-licensed without
fulfilling the required CEU by this directive.
2. No continuing professional development course or
activity shall be counted unless accredited by Accreditors
and endorsed by Ministry.
3. Standardization of continuing professional development
shall be made following applicable guidelines adopted by
the Ministry.
4. Health practitioners will commit themselves to meeting
the requirements for continuing education in the belief
that the practitioner and patient/client will reap the
benefits of lifelong learning.
5. Accreditors and CPD providers should encourage
professional Associations for the implementations of
professional ethics.

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

Part Two
Roles and Responsibilities
5. Ministry
The Ministry shall have the following responsibilities:
1. The Ministry shall establish a Continuing Professional
Development committee (herein after referred to as the
“Committee”) 16 representative members consisting of the
Ministry, Regional Health Bureau, RRB, accredited
professional associations as a provider or accreditor,
training institution and development partners.
2. The Committee established by sub-article 1 of this article
shall be chaired by the chairperson elected from the
committee members, and the secretary shall be from the
Ministry.
3. The Committee shall adopt its own rules or procedures.
4. The Committee shall have the following power and
responsibilities:
a. Develop implementation guidelines and manuals;
b. Accredit accreditors by standard criteria provided
under the relevant guideline;
c. Investigate complaints and recommend appropriate
administrative measures against accreditors’ and
service providers;
d. Review the continuing professional development
guideline when necessary;
e. Shall conduct quality assurance checks of
Accreditors. Accreditor status may be suspended/or
revoked after such quality check(s) should any critical
incident be brought to the ministry’s attention;
5. Creates institutional recognition mechanism to enroll
health professional in CPD activity

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

6. Guide the overall continuing professional development

activities and identify means to fund and sustain the
program.
7. The CPD case team in the Ministry shall be responsible to
a. Develop and made available forms necessary for
continuing professional development implementation;
b. Maintain an up-to-date website with electronic copies
of downloadable guides, forms, related documents
and list of accredited providers and courses;
c. Develop and maintain continuing professional
development data base;
d. Shall notify timely the list of available accreditors and
accredited CPD providers;
e. Monitor and evaluate the overall CPD implementation
in the country;
f. Ensure the CPD courses are provided as per the CPD
implementation guideline;
g. Review the appropriateness of continuing education
units allocated for courses by accreditors;
h. Regulate the overall continuing professional
development implementation in the country;
i. shall support regional CPD regulatory bodies and
health bureau to build their capacity;
6. Regional Health Bureau/Regulatory Body
1. May establish regional CPD case team and committee
2. Shall coordinate the undertaking of CPD course need
assessment in the respective region.
3. Shall advocate and facilitate continuing development of
all health professionals in the respective region.
4. Shall mobilize resources for in-service training and CPD
activities for health professionals working in the region.

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

5. Report the complaints raised against CPD accreditors and

service providers in their respective region to the
Ministry.
6. Shall develop and maintain continuing professional
development database;
7. Accreditors
1. Potential Accreditors shall apply to the Ministry for
registration as an Accreditor. The CPD Committee shall,
review the existing accreditors and shall issue a license
to accreditors for a further period of three years and may
relicense after three years if they comply with the
requirement.
2. The role of Accreditor is to:
a. Review applications for accreditation of CPD service
providers and CPD courses;
b. Monitor compliance with the guidelines;
c. Revise continuing education units (CEUs) allocated
where the provider failed to comply with the rules
and regulations of the Ministry CPD System;
d. Review Accredited Service Providers and submit an
annual report to the Ministry for noting whether the
following was adhered to:
 A list of all activities during the year was
provided;
 A record of all applications received, as well as
their outcomes to be kept for at least five years.
 All ethical activities were mentioned;
 Relevance of activities to the field of practice;
 Has an activity been presented more than once to
the same audience; and
 Any problem experienced.

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

e. Investigate complaints against CPD Service

Providers and take necessary administrative
measures.
f. Submit accredited CPD activities to the Ministry for
coding and uploading on the website.
3. Government Universities involved in health science
education and health professional associations who
fulfill the required criteria are the potential/qualified
accreditors.
4. The appropriate infrastructure which the accreditor shall
fulfill is the following: an office with access to the
internet, computer with database, e-mail and fax
facilities and dedicated administrative support.
5. The accreditor shall have accreditation director,
administration assistant/secretary and designated
members of the panel of experts (at least 5 either part-
time or full time).
6. To avoid conflict of interest, members of the
accreditation committees need to take cognizance of the
ethical rules and the policy on undesirable business
practice.
7. The accreditor must ensure that the proposed activity is
free of undesirable commercial influence. The proposed
activity should be ethically acceptable, of educational
value, should provide a balanced view and must not be
unduly promotional.
8. In the case of straightforward applications where
discussion is not necessary, the CEUs allocated by the
designated person will be noted formally by the
Committee at its next regular meeting. However, the
accreditor must ensure that the proposed activity is free
of undesirable commercial influence. Therefore, the
proposed activity should be ethically acceptable, of

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

educational value, should provide a balanced view and

must not be unduly promotional.
9. In the case of contentious applications where the
designated committee cannot reach a decision (or in the
case of an appeal by the provider), such an application,
with supporting documentation, should be referred to the
Ministry.
10. Levies for the accreditation providers /activities of
should be within approved guidelines as agreed to by the
CPD Committee. The Guidelines on the Accreditation
fees will be prescribed by the CPD Committee and may
be audited on an annual basis.
11. The Ministry CPD Committee shall conduct quality
assurance checks of Accreditors. Accreditor status may
be reviewed and/or revoked after such quality check(s)
or should any critical incident be brought to the
Ministry’s attention
12. When the accreditor wants to apply as a CPD course
provider, the accreditation process shall be done by
another accreditor.
13. The accreditor shall maintain the confidentiality of the
course submitted by the provider
8. CPD Providers
Providers shall:
1. Have program mission statement specifying major
changes in competence, performance or patient outcome
that will be the result of the program for review and
accreditation.
2. Complete an application form, and submit the required
documentation and fees to the accreditor when
requesting accreditation

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

3. Submit each CPD course to an accreditor for review and

accreditation three months before presenting the CPD
activity.
4. Assign qualified panel of experts composed of content
expertise, program experts, and instructional design
experts.
5. Fulfill the following requirements:
a. CPD director/coordinator (a minimum of first degree
in health science), training officer, IT officer and
administration assistant/secretary.
b. Office with an Internet connection, national software
database for training information and telephone
service.
c. Shall arrange standardized training hall and syndicate
room to provide the CPD training for face to face
training modality.
d. Computer (Desktop/laptop), printer, LCD, and
photocopy machine.
6. Develop and provide accredited CPD courses.
7. Check before the course development, whether there
exists approved relevant CPD document in the area
seeking to prepare.
8. Only one-course provider shall be accredited for one
CPD course material with the same and course code
unless it is nationally approved as national CPD courses.
9. Meet agreed training quality requirements in course
design and delivery
10. Document and avail internal monitoring and evaluation
results and participant evaluation report of every CPD
activity
11. Required to publicize the annual proposed activity
together with its accreditation number and CEUs.

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

12. Keep a record that reflects attendance at the entire event

completion of the activity and should retain these for a
period of five years after the activity as these may be
required in a compliance audit.
13. Report CPD activities annually to The Ministry and the
accreditor
14. Amend and apply for approval in accordance with
changing circumstances if necessary
15. Apply for license renewal annually
16. Avail certificate of competence in visible place
9. Professional Associations
a. May serve as CPD accreditor and/or provider if they
meet the required criteria.
b. May suggest the annual credit point requirements for
the respective profession.
c. Shall conduct and participate in need assessment and
propose continuing professional development
activities in their respective profession.
d. Shall create means to encourage professionals in the
respective association to participate in continuing
professional development activities in collaboration
with other stakeholders
10. Health Professionals
1. Every health professional shall:
a. Evaluate the training value of the activity or course
and its appropriateness for the learning needs;
b. Ascertain the legality of CPD providers before taking
the courses
c. Comply with the specified continuing education units
of activities in each year;
d. Ensure possession of a certificate for every activities
attended and keep these for at least three years; and

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

2. Health professional who is registered in more than one

profession shall be required to obtain continuing
education units for each profession.
3. If a continuing professional development activity is
relevant for both professions, (Cross cutting subjects)
continuing education units may be considered for both
professions.
4. Identify a means to participate in continuing professional
development activities in collaboration with other
stakeholders.
5. May identify their learning need and submit to the
relevant body.
6. Health professionals may appeal to the process of CPD
course delivery and quality of training to the Ministry
and respective RRB/RHB
11. Employer
Employers shall:
1. Integrate the CPD program in the annual performance
appraisal of health professionals;
2. Include the CPD offering schedule for its staffs, and
report the number of staffs who took CPD courses
annually to their respective body.
3. Notify on time information on CPD issues from the
Ministry/ RHB and provider to its staffs.
4. Undertake continuing professional development need
assessment for their health workers and, where
appropriate, support the professionals accordingly.
5. Avail adequate time for their employees to participate in
continuing professional development activities; and
6. Assist for their employee’s continuing professional
development activities.

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

12. Development Partners

• Provide technical and financial support to
FMOH/RHB/Regional regulatory
bodies/government universities to help CPD
system function.
• Provide technical and financial support to
Professional Associations or societies to be
able to actively participate in CPD.

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

Part Three
Accreditation and, Credit Allocation and
Requirements
13. Accreditation of accreditor
1. Potential accreditors fulfilling the criteria set by this
directive and applicable guidelines may apply to the
Ministry to function as an accreditor.
2. The accreditor shall fulfill appropriate human resource
and infrastructure requirements by the CPD
implementation guideline.
3. The Ministry shall review the application, weigh against
set criteria and may approve, recommend correction or
deny application made by sub-article (1 and 2) of this
article.
4. Accreditor license shall be valid for three years.
5. A record of all applications received, as well as their
outcomes and a record of the minutes of all Panels’
meetings shall be kept for at least five years.
6. Certificate of accreditation for accreditor status shall be
given by the Ministry, and the accreditor shall apply for
renewal two months before license date of expiry.
14. Accreditation of CPD Provider
1. Potential provider fulfilling the criteria set by this
directive and CPD guidelines may apply to the accreditor
to function as a CPD provider.
2. The provider shall fulfill appropriate human resource
and infrastructure requirements by the CPD guideline.
3. The accreditor shall review the application, weigh
against set criteria and may approve, recommend
correction or deny application made by sub-article
(1 and 2) of this article.

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

4. Approval of an application shall be valid for one year.

5. A record of all applications received, as well as their
outcomes and a record of the minutes of all Panels’
meetings shall be kept for at least five years.
6. Certificate of competence for CPD provider status shall
be given by the accreditor, and the provider shall apply
for renewal two months before license date of expiry
15. Course Approval
1. The accredited CPD provider requiring course approval
shall apply to the accreditor at least three months before
the anticipated date of provision of the course.
2. The accreditor shall check the completeness of the
application; assign application number and a
professional category to the application after reviewing
the criteria by the CPD guideline.
3. The accreditor upon receipt of the application by sub-
article 15 sub -article 2 of this article, may approve the
course and its credit value designated by the provider,
recommend correction or deny approval, notify the
decision within two months of application.
16. Credit allocation and requirement
1. Credit points shall only be counted if the course received
is approved by the accreditor and found relevant to the
applicant’s current practice.
2. All health professionals shall be required to earn at least
30 credit units per year and 90 credit units per three
years to get a re-licensure.
3. Notwithstanding to sub-article (2) of this article
professional associations may recommend a higher credit
point required for their specific professional category.

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

4. For CPD courses or activities received from abroad,

credit points allocation shall be treated based on the
applicable guideline.
5. The maximum credit point that can be earned from a
single CPD course shall not exceed 15 CEUs.
6. Credit points earned from a particular course shall be
considered only once within a licensure period.
7. CPD CEUs collected during one budget year cannot be
transferred to another year
8. A trainer shall not be awarded credits for delivering the
same course more than once within a licensure period.

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 Directive on Continuing Professional Development for Health Professionals

Part Four
Miscellaneous
17. Conflict of interest
Any conflict of interest shall be entertained by the
Ministry/RHB
18. Complaint handling
a. Any complaint will be submitted to the
Ministry/RHB and the Ministry/ RHB can bring it to
CPD committee
b. CPD committee will propose possible decisions to
the human resource development directorate for final
decision.
19. Uncovered matters
Any issue related to continuing professional development
and which is not addressed by this directive shall be done by
CPD guidelines adopted by the Ministry.
20. Inapplicable laws
No directive or practice shall be applicable in so far as it is
contradictory with provisions
provided under this directive.
21. Effective date
This directive shall enter into force from the date of
signature by the minister of the federal democratic republic
of Ethiopia Ministry of health.

Amir Aman (Dr.)

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Ministry of Health Minister
November, 2018

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