A Review of Global Health Competencies for Postgraduate Public Health Education.

Shailendra Sawleshwarkar,Joel Negin

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2017.00046

Shailendra Sawleshwarkar, Joel Negin

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00046

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Abstract

During the last decade, the literature about global health has grown exponentially. Academic institutions are also exploring the scope of their public health educational programs to meet the demand for a global health professional. This has become more relevant in the context of the sustainable development goals. There have been attempts to describe global health competencies for specific professional groups. The focus of these competencies has been variable with a variety of different themes being described ranging from globalization and health care, analysis and program management, as well as equity and capacity strengthening. This review aims to describe global health competencies and attempts to distill common competency domains to assist in curriculum development and integration in postgraduate public health education programs. A literature search was conducted using relevant keywords with a focus on public health education. This resulted in identification of 13 articles that described global health competencies. All these articles were published between 2005 and 2015 with six from the USA, two each from Canada and Australia, and one each from UK, Europe, and Americas. A range of methods used to describe competency domains included literature review, interviews with experts and employers, surveys of staff and students, and description or review of an academic program. Eleven competency domains were distilled from the selected articles. These competency domains primarily referred to three main aspects, one that focuses on burden of disease and the determinants of health. A second set focuses on core public health skills including policy development, analysis, and program management. Another set of competency domains could be classified as “soft skills” and includes collaboration, partnering, communication, professionalism, capacity building, and political awareness. This review presents the landscape of defined global health competencies for postgraduate public health education. The discussion about use of “global health,” “international health,” and “global public health” will continue, and academic institutions need to explore ways to integrate these competencies in postgraduate public health programs. This is critical in the post-MDG era that we prepare global public health workforce for the challenges of improving health of the “global” population in the context of sustainable development goals.

Highlights

In the post-MDG era, there is increasing recognition that health and sustainable development are inseparable in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world [1, 2]
After limiting abstracts to those that dealt with global health education from public health aspect and after excluding duplicates, this reduced the number of abstracts to 126
Fifteen articles described competencies either as a focus of the article or in the context of a program. Two of these were not included in the final set as one of them described the same program and as another article focused on global health research competencies

Summary

Introduction

In the post-MDG era, there is increasing recognition that health and sustainable development are inseparable in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world [1, 2]. The concept of “global health” as the health of an interdependent global population is shaping our understanding of which and whose problems we tackle and the way in which we educate students and design the global institutions that govern our collective efforts to protect and promote public health worldwide [3]. Critique and design global health approaches affecting the health status of individuals, communities, and populations around the world. Evaluate and apply public health ethical frameworks to design programs, policies, and interventions intended to improve health services and health status of individuals, communities, and populations. Assess and incorporate spheres of influence or systems that affect global health challenges into policies to improve the health status of individuals, communities, and populations. University of Washington (UW) international health program competencies through literature search, looking at other programs, expert reviews, and faculty and student survey.

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