Pediatrician

What this life looks like

Children are not small adults. They have their own diseases, their own physiology, and their own needs – and as a Pediatrician you dedicate your career to understanding and protecting their health from birth through adolescence. You treat everything from common childhood infections to rare genetic conditions, from malnutrition to childhood cancers. You also counsel parents, advocate for child welfare, and work to prevent illness before it starts. In Africa the case for this career is urgent and undeniable. Under-five mortality, though it has fallen significantly, remains devastatingly high across sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoeal diseases, malnutrition, and neonatal complications together kill millions of African children every year – most of them from conditions that are entirely preventable or treatable. Every Pediatrician trained and working in Africa is saving lives that the statistics have already written off. If protecting children drives you, this is your career.

What she actually does

A Pediatrician diagnoses and treats illness in children and adolescents from birth through age 18, manages chronic childhood conditions such as sickle cell disease, asthma, diabetes, and epilepsy, provides developmental assessments, administers vaccinations, counsels parents on nutrition and child development, and refers complex cases to paediatric subspecialists. In Africa paediatricians also lead child nutrition programmes, school health initiatives, and community child health outreach.

Where you can work

Why it matters in Africa

Africa accounts for the majority of global under-five deaths. Sickle cell disease – one of the most common genetic disorders in the world – affects millions of African children and requires specialist paediatric management. Malnutrition, a major driver of child mortality, requires skilled paediatric diagnosis and treatment. The shortage of trained paediatricians across the continent means that children who could survive with proper care are not getting it. Training as a paediatrician in Africa is one of the most direct ways to address this crisis.

Your pathway in

Strong Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics at secondary school are essential. You then complete an MBBS or MBChB degree at a recognised university over five to six years, followed by housemanship. To specialise in paediatrics you enter a residency programme and work towards the Fellowship of the West African College of Physicians in Paediatrics, or an equivalent qualification such as the Fellowship of the College of Paediatricians of South Africa. This residency takes approximately four years. Further subspecialisation in areas like paediatric cardiology, oncology, or neurology requires additional fellowship training, often undertaken partly overseas.

Skills you will need

Technical: Paediatric diagnosis, growth and developmental assessment, neonatal care, paediatric pharmacology, management of childhood infectious diseases, and paediatric emergency procedures. Human: The ability to communicate with both children and their parents at the same time, patience and warmth, the ability to explain frightening situations calmly, and the emotional resilience to care for seriously ill children. Digital tools: Paediatric electronic health records, growth monitoring software, telemedicine platforms for remote paediatric consultation, and diagnostic imaging systems.

A woman in this field

Take your first step

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