Chapter 22. Education and Careers in Global Health
Jessica Evert; Scott Loeliger
Learning Objectives
Appreciate the landscape of global health education for health science and other trainees
Describe global health workforce challenges and opportunities
Define competencies of global health education and structural models for educational programs
Overview
Increased Social Accountability and the Transformation of Health Education
Frameworks for Global Health Education
Global health education occurs at all levels of medical education: premedical undergraduate, undergraduate medical education (medical school), graduate medical education (residency), and postgraduate medical education (i.e., residencies and fellowships). It also occurs in allied health, public health, nursing, and other health education schools. In addition, global health and similar themes are studied in most nonhealth disciplines, with particular attention in geography, women’s studies, anthropology, and other social sciences. Because determinants of health are so broad, especially in the developing world, global health education is the subject of business, engineering, political science, and many other disciplines. Even when not conceived as explicitly global health education, the concepts, principles, and interventions of most disciplines when applied in a globalized fashion are integrated into global health in its most inclusive form.
Within health-specific and health-related disciplines, explicit global health education takes many forms:
Undergraduate programs (nonprofessional schools) in international relations, public health, anthropology, etc.
Certificate programs, applying to both visiting scholars and professional school students who concentrate on global health.
Global health tracks for students in medicine, pharmacy, nursing, dentistry, and veterinary medicine.
A global health elective or required coursework during undergraduate medical, nursing, or allied health education.
Master’s degrees in global health sciences or clinical research focusing on global health topics.
Areas of concentration for doctoral students in basic sciences, nursing, or other fields to support research projects in global health.
Clinical scholar programs for residents who wish to expand their clinical training to include research, service, or program work abroad.
Participation in student-run local, national, and international organizations (i.e., IFMSA, GlobeMed, Unite for Sight, Global Brigades) as well as participation in professional groups (i.e., AAFP’s Global Health Workshop, ACS Operation Giving Back, AAP Section on International Child Health), consortiums (i.e., CUGH, WONCA), and other national/international organizations (i.e., Doctors for Global Health, Physicians for Social Responsibility).
Participation in international rotations or study abroad programs through academic institutions or nongovernmental organizations (i.e., Child Family Health International, Cross Cultural Solutions, others).
There is no agreed upon or universal structure to global health education.28 Bozorgmehr and colleagues presented key characteristics of global health education that emphasizes important concepts such as inter- professionalism, focus on social justice, and critical thinking (Table 22-1).29 However each program is a reflection of its own institutional strengths, faculty capabilities, global health agenda, unique philosophy, and underlying ethical approach.30
Table 22-1. Key Characteristics of “Global Health” Education
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Many from the global north refer to global health education programs as those at global north institutions that teach global health concepts to a predominantly Western trainee population. However there are also those that focus on training individuals from the global south to serve their own communities. This occurs through grassroots capacity building activities, formal educational institutions, and twinning programs. Grassroots capacity building usually occurs at the community or provincial level. These activities include training of community health workers, existing health care professionals, and others. Although this process occurs internally, the literature predominantly reflects education programs and capacity building that involves facilitators from the global north.31–33
Formal educational institutions that train local student populations exist throughout the world. There has been a growth and collaboration of such institutions dedicated to educating local individuals to be physicians, midlevel providers, nurses, and pharmacists who are dedicated to caring for the underserved in their own countries and regions. THEnet is a consortium of 11 medical schools around the world committed to training health care providers who are embedded in the community, responsive to its needs, and dedicated to a social justice agenda. This is in contrast to the traditional ivory tower view of medical schools. Traditiona