International partnerships between institutions in high income and low to middle income countries are a long established way of developing the international healthcare workforce. They include the King’s Somaliland Partnership which was established in 2000 and works with the Somaliland government, higher education institutions, health facilities, regulators and professional associations, to support health workforce development and service delivery.

This report, out today from the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce at King’s, summarises evidence on the benefits and challenges of creating these partnerships and highlights the increasing importance given to creating ethical and sustainable arrangements in the future.