Skip to main content

Table 1 Key characteristics of 'global health' education

From: The 'global health' education framework: a conceptual guide for monitoring, evaluation and practice

Category

Characteristics */**/+

Implication

Rationale

Object

Focuses on social, economic, political and cultural forces which influence health across the world*

Learning opportunities in 'global health' focus on the underlying structural determinants of health

To ensure that educational interventions cover the social, economic, political and cultural aetiology of ill health, and not merely its disease-oriented symptoms on a global level

 

Concerned with the needs of developing countries; with health issues that transcend national boundaries; and with the impact of globalisation *

Learning opportunities in 'global health' link territorial up to supraterritorial dimensions of underlying structural determinants of health

To ensure that educational interventions clarify the links between territorial health situations (either domestic ones and/or situations in other countries) and their underlying transborder and global determinants

Orientation

Towards 'health for all' **/+

Learning opportunities in 'global health' should adopt and impart the ethical and practical aspects of achieving 'health for all'

To ensure that educational interventions are relevant to people's needs on community, local, national, international and global level

 

Towards health equity **/+

Learning opportunities in 'global health' should emphasise issues of health equity (or health inequity) within and across countries

To ensure that educational interventions orientate on the challenge of achieving health equity worldwide

Outcome

Identification of actions

Learning opportunities in 'global health' facilitate the identification of actions (by the student), undertaken to resolve problems either top-down or - more importantly - bottom-up

To ensure that educational interventions foster critical thinking and present options for professional engagement on different dimensions towards 'health for all' and health equity

Methodology

Cross-disciplinarity *

Learning opportunities in 'global health' involve educators and/or students from various disciplines and professions

To ensure that educational interventions lead to an understanding of influences on health beyond the bio-medical paradigm and respect the importance of sectors other than the health sector in improving health

 

Bottom-up learning and problem-orientation

Learning-opportunities in 'global health' require unconventional methods for teaching and learning

To ensure that educational interventions clarify the relevance for the health workforce to deal with transborder and/or global determinants of health

  1. Deduced from: * Rowson et al (2007) cited in [29]; ** Koplan et al (2009) [35]; + WHO (1984, 1995, 2005) [38–40]