ABSTRACT:
Issue Kenya and other African countries have recently experienced increasing cases of violence, displacement, and social tensions, which have become powerful drivers of ill-health. According to UNHCR, in 2025, Africa had the largest population of forcibly displaced persons, totaling 45 million people. Without addressing the impacts of conflict and violence on public health, Africa remains far from achieving the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – “Leave No One Behind”. In Kenya, the rates of injuries, psychological trauma, and gender-based violence remain high due to disrupted access to care and weakened trust in health systems. To address the impacts of violence on public health, the Association of Physicians and Medical Workers for Social Responsibility (APMS) is currently implementing the Medical Peace Work (MPW) course that aims to equip medical students with practical peace and health competencies through a scalable model for Kenya and the wider African students’ network. Key Findings A quantitative review of estimates was generated through cohort registers, MPW course completion logs, ToT rosters and student chapter reports. From 2013 to 2025, APMS has delivered MPW to approximately 125 medical students annually (approximately ~1600 trained). The number of active university chapters has also increased from 3 to 13.

CONCLUSIONS:
The MPW Course is a promising high-impact investment among future healthcare workers. Scaling the platform across Kenyan medical schools and across Africa serves to build capacity for ethically grounded healthcare workers with the ability to protect access to healthcare, strengthen referral systems, and offer protection pathways for vulnerable populations. In the MPW delivery model, peace is treated as a public health intervention, where the cost of inaction is measurable in terms of avoidable deaths and disability. Following scale-up, APMS projects to train between 1000 and 1500 medical students per year across the 13 accredited medical universities in Kenya