□ The Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (President Ha Il-Soo) held the “2024 Dr LEE Jong-wook Fellowship Program Opening Ceremony & Orientation” at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, September 3rd at the KOFIH LEE Jong-wook Hall in the Health and Welfare Administration Town in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

□ The Dr LEE Jong-wook Fellowship Program is Korea’s representative global healthcare workforce capacity building program for developing countries. It began in 2007 to inherit the noble spirit of the late Dr. Lee Jong-wook, the 6th Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), the first Korean to head an international organization, and has produced a total of 1,500 trainees from 30 countries from 2007 to 2023.

○ After returning to their home countries, the fellows are playing an important role as key personnel in the health system in their home countries, and since 2016, the trainees have voluntarily formed an alumni association (KOFIH Global Alumni, KGA) in their home countries to share their knowledge and contribute to local health system strengthening, developing it into one of the most successful official development assistance (ODA) projects, and have been recognized for their achievements both domestically and internationally, such as being selected as the ‘Key ODA Project in 2024’ by the International Development Cooperation Committee.

□ This year, a total of 170 trainees from 14 countries will participate in and complete one of the seven courses (clinical, health policy, health finance and economics, biomedical engineering, health professional education, leadership course for policy management, infectious disease specialist) or degree courses (nursing, basic medicine, health policy, biomedical engineering, medical education) for 2 to 24 months.

○ Among them, a total of 100 trainees completed the four courses (clinical, health policy, health finance and economics, infectious disease specialist courses) held in the first half of the year, and this integrated opening ceremony was prepared for about 50 trainees who will join the three courses (degree, clinical, health workforce education specialist) scheduled for the second half of the year.

□ In his welcoming speech that day, President Ha Il-Soo of KOFIH, said, “The Dr LEE Jong-wook Fellowship Program is creating a virtuous cycle in which fellows who have joined the program will train other personnel in their home countries.” He added, “Through this opening ceremony and orientation, we will provide full support so that trainees from each country can increase their understanding of Korea and cooperative projects, foster the Dr LEE Jong-wook spirit, achieve what they planned while staying in Korea, and contribute back to their home countries.”