draft; not for distribution or publication

Transforming the future: Critical competencies for global health professionals

Sarah Hohl, MPH Amy Hagopian, PhD, MHAStephen Gloyd, MD, MPH

Judy Wasserheit, MD, MPHJulie Beschta, MPH

Department of Global HealthUniversity of Washington

20 September 2010

We conducted a survey of 25 global health leaders to solicit their views on what knowledge and competencies should be covered in global health training programs.

Q: What was the most frequently identified topic they thought graduates should know about?

A. EpidemiologyB. Health systemsC. Social and environmental determinants of healthD. Interdisciplinary approachesE. Applied learning opportunities

Respondents emphasized that there must be a link between what we know and what we do.

Q: Which of the following applied skill areas was most often discussed?

A. Program and human resource managementB. Analysis & synthesisC. Vision and policy advocacyD. Budgeting & financeE. Coalition building

Why define appropriate training in Global Health?

• Passion for global issues growing

• Funding of global health initiatives multiplying

• Increased public attention and global health policy initiatives

• Global health disparities intensifying

Why define appropriate training in Global Health?

• Not much published on careers in global health now

• Less published on the future of global health roles and jobs

• Little consensus on a set of shared competencies within the field, now or in the future.

Workforce-Competency SurveyHohl, Beschta, Gloyd, Wasserheit, Hagopian

General objectives:

• Identify jobs and current competencies required

• Shape programs and courses to meet future needs

• Better prepare students

Specific objectives:

• Current skill sets required

• Identify workforce competency needs for future

Semi-structured interviews

Methods

• Created list of organizations that represent donors, academics, and implementing organizations

• Requested 40-75 minute telephone interviews with 63 experts

• Reached theoretical saturation at 25 global health expert interviews

• Transcribed and coded each interview for themes

Donors HQ location Academics HQ location Implementers HQ location

Carso Health Institute* Mexico Duke University USA CARE USA

China Medical Board USA Emory University USA Engender Health USA

Gates Foundation (2)* USAGeorge Washington University (2) * USA

International Women's Health Coalition USA

PEPFAR USA Harvard University* USA I-TECH USA

Packard Foundation USA Imperial College London* UK MOH Sudan Sudan

UNAIDS Switzerland

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)* USA MOH Mozambique

Mozam- bique

USAID USA Johns Hopkins University USA MOH Mexico* Mexico

Princeton University USA Partners in Health USA

Seattle Biomed USA PATH USA

University College London UKPhilipine Legislators' Committee on Popn & Devt Philippines

Table 1: Respondent Organizations

Emerging themes: Curricular needs in global health training programs

Emerging themes: Curricular needs in global health training programs

We conducted a survey of 25 global health leaders to solicit their views on what knowledge and competencies should be covered in global health training programs.

Q: What was the most frequently identified topic they thought graduates should know about?

A. EpidemiologyB. Health systemsC. Social and environmental determinants of healthD. Interdisciplinary approachesE. Applied learning opportunities

Emerging themes: Curricular needs in global health training programs

C. Social and environmental determinants of health

100% of our respondents said that students need to be more aware of and able to intervene to change the course of the primary social

and environmental determinants of health.

“We must train people in the social determinants of health …We see in the future that the global health professional has to…devise programs for poverty, education, for gender bias, for employment…

“These are such integral parts of global health that the students trained in this area have to see them as not just nice things to think about, but as core things to think about.”

[Donor]

Respondents emphasized that there must be a link between what we know and what we do.

Q: Which of the following applied skill areas was most often discussed?

A. Program and human resource managementB. Analysis & synthesisC. Vision and policy advocacyD. Budgeting & financeE. Coalition building

Emerging themes: Curricular needs in global health training programs

Applied skill areas

E. Coalition building 20/25 of our respondents said that students need to be prepared to work in teams and build coalitions across sectors and organizations.

“[Coalition building] is the functional approach to global health. You can’t do anything alone.”

[Academic]

Approaches to learning

Approaches to learning

“Students have to have some sort of experiential learning as well, because we see people coming out education rich and experience-poor.”

[Donor]

Interdisciplinary collaboration

“But the bottom line is, because of this complexity, who is needed for global health is a new generation that has multi-talents, that is not coming from one brand of training, that is not coming from a biomedical background or a public health background or an ‘X’ background. To train the global health leaders of the future we need professionals with a complex set of abilities who understand economics and the political scene and the culture and the social, as well as the scientific.”

[Academic]

“[Universities are] preparing people in a very theoretical program for a job that actually requires some practical skills that they’re not given any preparation for....It is designed by academics not recognizing the professional reality on the ground.”

[Implementer]

Discussion

Critical competencies

Discussion

Discussion

•Train global health professionals now to make impact over the next 20-40 years

•Address the gap between what we know and what we do: Implementation Science

•Include implementers and donors to contribute to curriculum design

•Incorporate team-based training and experiential learning beyond the health sciences

Limitations

• Small sample

• Representativeness not certain

• Personal biases

• Western-centric

• English-speaking respondents

• Does not address jobs from MOH, other national agencies

draft; not for distribution or publication

Thank You.

Questions and Discussion