In early February, Duke University will launch its first open online course created in collaboration with an African university. The course, “Tropical Parasitology: Protozoans, Worms, Vectors and Human Diseases,” will be taught by John Bartlett, professor of medicine, global health, and nursing at Duke University Medical Center, and Mramba Nyindo and Frank Mosha, both tropical parasitology experts at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College (KCMUC) in Tanzania.

The 8-week course is free and open to anyone in the world, but was created with a particular audience in mind: medical and health sciences students in sub-Saharan Africa. (Duke Magazine described the background of the course in its Summer 2014 issue.) At KCMUC, 269 medical students will use the online course to supplement in-class learning.

In addition, the course is also being promoted for use at a network of 13 African medical schools, an effort that is part of an NIH-sponsored Medical Education Partnership Initiative to increase the number of new health care workers in the region.

The course features interviews with practicing doctors and video filmed in the field to illustrate important concepts and examples to give students a rich background in treating and preventing tropical disease.

“It is very enriching that most of the course is taught by African experts, who have great expertise and experience with these diseases.” said Bartlett.

To register, visit the “Tropical Parasitology: Protozoans, Worms, Vectors and Human Diseases” course page on Coursera.