The Use of International Service Learning Initiatives for Global Health Education

Abstract

Global health education and health promotion have the potential to engage students, scholars, and practitioners in ways that go beyond the classroom teaching routine. This engagement in global communities, can range from reflection on continuing deep-seated questions about human rights and civic responsibility to the use of health education and promotion-related theoretical, intellectual, and practical skills. In the arena of global health education and promotion, these skills also range from leadership and advocacy to decision making, critical and creative thinking, teamwork, and problem solving. In recent times, there has been a growing interest in cross-cultural collaborations and educational initiatives to improve stakeholder's understanding of global health principles and practices, to enrich the experiences of health professionals, and to improve the lives of those who are disenfranchised and live across borders. In this article of Health Promotion Practice, we highlight two unique cases of cross-national collaborations and provide a glimpse of the various shapes and forms taken by cross-cultural educational initiatives for global health education and promotion. We summarize the history, philosophy, and current working practices relevant to these collaborations, keeping in view the global health domains, competencies, and activities. In addition, we also compare the key components and activities of these two case studies from Rwanda and Mexico, wherein communities in these two countries collaborated with academic institutions and health professionals in the United States.

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Gaps in studies of global health education: an empirical literature review

“…Global health education programs provide different types of fieldwork projects, including epidemiological research, community health, and clinical electives ( 11 ). It has the potential to engage students, scholars, and practitioners in ways that go beyond the classroom teaching routine ( 12 ).…”

Abundance, Adventure, Bearing Witness, and Joy

“…These values are realized in a core curriculum that is delivered in both traditional classroom format and since 2007 through synchronous “live online” cohorts. Across both formats, our curriculum utilizes community-based pedagogy that has contributed to innovations including a 10-year partnership with a pueblo in Oaxaca, Mexico (Plumb et al, 2013), use of technology for continuing education (Demers & Mamary, 2008), and a virtual practicum model (Goodman, 2015). Dorothy Nyswander’s vision of an open society, in which health educators are dreamers who apply knowledge to real problems, expect diversity, welcome dissent, and leave no one behind, has been our conceptual guiding force for more than 40 years (Nyswander, 1967).…”