Global Health Scholars Research Articles

Reimagining global health scholarship to tackle health inequities

Reimagining global health scholarship to tackle health inequities

Impact of Global Health Scholarship Programs in the Faculty of Medicine at Mbarara University of Science and Technology

In recognition of the critical role of residency programs in narrowing healthcare inequalities, Global Health scholarships were introduced at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in 2011. Since then, at least 154 postgraduate students in priority programs have benefited. We conducted an online cross-sectional survey to examine how the scholarships and beneficiaries have impacted MUST and the community. Fifty (50) beneficiaries, representing 32.5%, responded, of whom 36 (72%) were alumni. Most respondents were males (n = 30; 60%) pursing Master of Medicine (n = 29; 58%) or Master of Nursing Science (n = 20; 40%) programs. The scholarship schemes included First Mile (n = 29; 58%), Kayanja (n = 12; 24%), Paiko (n = 5; 10%) and Seed (n = 4; 8%). The majority of the scholarships supported both tuition and research fees (n = 41; 82%), the rest being partial. Career advancement was undertaken by eight (16%) of the scholars in the form of fellowships (n = 3; 6%), other masters (n = 3; 6%) and PhDs (n = 3; 6%), with some students having attained a combination of these. All scholars belonged to at least one health professional association. Over 88% (n = 32) of the alumni and 28% (n = 4) of the students were employed. The majority of those employed were in the public sector (n = 24; 66.7%), mainly the health sector (n = 18; 50%), academia (n = 14; 38.9) or both (n = 4; 11.1%). There was a high impact on health care provision, undergraduate training and research carried out by the scholars both during training and post-graduation. High levels of career satisfaction, scholarship impact and academic program relevance were reported. The findings provide insights on how low-fund specialty scholarships can have a far-reaching impact on local training, health care and research in low- and middle-income countries.

Benefits and Challenges of a Global Health Scholars Track for Family Medicine Residents

Benefits and Challenges of a Global Health Scholars Track for Family Medicine Residents

Keeping the Customer Satisfied: Applying a Kano Model to Improve Vaccine Promotion in the Philippines.

The success of global health interventions heavily relies on reaching populations in a way that aligns with their priorities and needs. This warrants novel approaches to determine the design of meaningful interventions and targeted delivery pathways. To date, global health scholarship and practice have largely underused approaches already established in fields that emphasize customer satisfaction, such as quality management or consumer psychology. In our study, we apply Kano methodology-originally designed to understand how product attributes nonlinearly influence customer satisfaction-to inform design decisions regarding a video-based vaccine intervention in the Philippines. Between September 2021 and April 2022, we administered a Kano questionnaire to 205 caregivers of small children. Data were analyzed following routine Kano approaches, supplemented by cultural consensus analysis (CCA), which is an approach used largely in anthropology to identify distinct cultural groups and competencies. Applying Kano and CCA methodologies allowed us to make informed design decisions in terms of optimizing accessibility and credibility of an intervention that ultimately proved successful in bolstering vaccine intentions. Results guided us to include national and international logos, to appreciate the value of summarizing key messages, and to recognize the importance of fact- or story-based communication as attributes that influenced respondent satisfaction one-dimensionally. We found that involving trusted messengers and including text-based information were required to avoid dissatisfaction. Interacting with someone after viewing the product and creating opportunities to share the promotional material via social media were attractive attributes whose presence would increase satisfaction but would not spark severe dissatisfaction if omitted. Other attributes (short duration, video- or animation-based intervention, delivering the intervention at health centers or in group settings) played a limited role in respondent satisfaction. Global health research and practice can benefit from applying approaches established in other fields when making evidence-based prioritization decisions to tailor interventions.

Using starling murmuration as a model for creating a global health community of practice to advance equity in scholarship

Background Disparities in scholarship exist between authors in low- or middle-income countries (LMIC) and high-income countries. Recognizing these disparities in our global network providing pediatric, adolescent, and maternal healthcare to vulnerable populations in LMIC, we sought to improve access and provide resources to address educational needs and ultimately impact the broader scholarship disparity. Methods We created a virtual community of practice (CoP) program underpinned by principles from starling murmuration to promote interdisciplinary scholarship. We developed guiding principles- autonomy, mastery and purpose- to direct the Global Health Scholarship Community of Practice Program. Program components included a continuing professional development (CPD) program, an online platform and resource center, a symposium for scholarship showcase, and peer coaching. Results From February 2021 to October 2022, 277 individuals joined. Eighty-seven percent came from LMIC, with 69% from Africa, 6% from South America, and 13% from other LMIC regions. An average of 30 members attended each of the 21 CPD sessions. Thirty-nine authors submitted nine manuscripts for publication. The symposium increased participation of individuals from LMIC and enhanced scholarly skills and capacity. Early outcomes indicate that members learned, shared, and collaborated as scholars using the online platform. Conclusion Sharing of knowledge and collaboration globally are feasible through a virtual CoP and offer a benchmark for future sustainable solutions in healthcare capacity building. We recommend such model and virtual platform to promote healthcare education and mentoring across disciplines.

Post-growth economics: a must for planetary health justice

Within the global health field, progress is being made to adopt a justice and sustainability-centred approach by advancing what has been named a planetary health agenda. Meanwhile, an increasing number of global health scholars argue for the decolonisation of the field. Yet, amongst these collective efforts to ‘transform’ global health thinking, a thorough analysis of political economy dimensions is often missing. ‘Growthism’, the belief that more production is necessarily good, continues to prevail. Truly committing to a decolonial eco-just global health agenda requires addressing the continuation of colonial arrangements within the structure of the global economy, removing growth dependencies and ushering in post-growth policies.

LMIC Research Centers' Experiences Hosting U.S. and LMIC Trainees: Evaluation of the Fogarty Global Health Fellows and Scholars Program, 2012 to 2020.

In this mixed-methods study, we explore themes that emerged from a survey assessing the programmatic experiences of mentors and administrators at institutions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) hosting trainees supported by the Fogarty International Center's Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars. A total of 89 of 170 potential respondents representing 31 countries completed the survey (response rate, 52.4%). There was agreement among respondents that their institutions received sufficient funds to support trainees and had the capacity to manage operational and financial aspects of the program. A majority also agreed that both LMIC and U.S. trainees were beneficial to the host institutions, and that trainee projects were relevant to the needs of the host country. Respondents felt that program benefits to LMIC trainees could be improved by increasing the research consumables budget, increasing the flexibility of program timelines, and increasing engagement between LMIC and U.S. trainees and institutions. Respondents indicated that both U.S. and LMIC trainees behaved professionally (including demonstrating respectful and ethical behavior) and took appropriate initiative to conduct their research projects. Findings from this study will help inform innovations to similar training initiatives that will enhance sustainability and improve program performance, and will be responsive to local needs.

The World Health Organization's Disease Outbreak News: A retrospective database.

The World Health Organization (WHO) notifies the global community about disease outbreaks through the Disease Outbreak News (DON). These online reports tell important stories about both outbreaks themselves and the high-level decision making that governs information sharing during public health emergencies. However, they have been used only minimally in global health scholarship to date. Here, we collate all 2,789 of these reports from their first use through the start of the Covid-19 pandemic (January 1996 to December 2019), and develop an annotated database of the subjective and often inconsistent information they contain. We find that these reports are dominated by a mix of persistent worldwide threats (particularly influenza and cholera) and persistent epidemics (like Ebola virus disease in Africa or MERS-CoV in the Middle East), but also document important periods in history like the anthrax bioterrorist attacks at the turn of the century, the spread of chikungunya and Zika virus to the Americas, or even recent lapses in progress towards polio elimination. We present three simple vignettes that show how researchers can use these data to answer both qualitative and quantitative questions about global outbreak dynamics and public health response. However, we also find that the retrospective value of these reports is visibly limited by inconsistent reporting (e.g., of disease names, case totals, mortality, and actions taken to curtail spread). We conclude that sharing a transparent rubric for which outbreaks are considered reportable, and adopting more standardized formats for sharing epidemiological metadata, might help make the DON more useful to researchers and policymakers.

Striving towards true equity in global health: A checklist for bilateral research partnerships.

Interest in "global health" among schools of medicine, public health, and other health disciplines in high-income countries (HIC) continues to rise. Persistent power imbalances, racism, and maintenance of colonialism/neocolonialism plague global health efforts, including global health scholarship. Scholarly projects conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) by trainees at these schools in HIC often exacerbate these problems. Drawing on published literature and shared experiences, we review key inequalities within each phase of research, from design through implementation and analysis/dissemination, and make concrete and practical recommendations to improve equity at each stage. Key problems facing global health scholarship include HIC-centric nature of global health organizations, paucity of funding directly available for LMIC investigators and trainees, misplaced emphasis on HIC selected issues rather than local solutions to local problems, the dominance of English language in the scientific literature, and exploitation of LMIC team members. Four key principles lie at the foundation of all our recommendations: 1) seek locally derived and relevant solutions to global health issues, 2) create paired collaborations between HIC and LMIC institutions at all levels of training, 3) provide funding for both HIC and LMIC team members, 4) assign clear roles and responsibilities to value, leverage, and share the strengths of all team members. When funding for global health research is predicated upon more ethical and equitable collaborations, the nature of global health collaborations will evolve to be more ethical and equitable. Therefore, we propose the Douala Equity Checklist as a 20-item tool HIC and LMIC institutions can use throughout the conduct of global health projects to ensure more equitable collaborations.

Global Anesthesiology and Intraoperative Neuromonitoring: Report from a Sustainable Collaboration

Committee News| January 2023 Global Anesthesiology and Intraoperative Neuromonitoring: Report from a Sustainable Collaboration Julio C. Montejano, MD; Julio C. Montejano, MD Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Betty Nantongo, MBChB, MMed; Betty Nantongo, MBChB, MMed Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Teguo Daniel Djoyum, MPH, CNIM, R.EEG.T; Teguo Daniel Djoyum, MPH, CNIM, R.EEG.T Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Colby G. Simmons, DO, MBA Colby G. Simmons, DO, MBA Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar ASA Monitor January 2023, Vol. 87, 32–33. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ASM.0000911812.56399.8f Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Cite Icon Cite Get Permissions Search Site Citation Julio C. Montejano, Betty Nantongo, Teguo Daniel Djoyum, Colby G. Simmons; Global Anesthesiology and Intraoperative Neuromonitoring: Report from a Sustainable Collaboration. ASA Monitor 2023; 87:32–33 doi: https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ASM.0000911812.56399.8f Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll PublicationsASA Monitor Search Advanced Search Topics: intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring, uganda, neurosurgical procedures The stated mission of the ASA Committee on Global Health is to enhance, support, educate, represent and collaborate for safe anesthesia practice worldwide. As an ASA Committee on Global Health scholarship recipient, Dr. Simmons traveled to CURE Uganda in 2017 and fully felt the pull of that mission. It was during this trip, and subsequent visits thereafter, that the framework was set for the creation of an educational and clinical program that would significantly improve surgical and anesthesia care, support economic development with job creation, and improve career satisfaction of clinicians via the implementation of the first intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) program in Uganda. At the University of Colorado Hospital, where Drs. Simmons and Montejano practice, the Section of Neuroanesthesia supervises and directs the IONM program. Utilizing these unique skills and recognizing the need for this technology and its ability to enhance patient outcomes, work began toward training and educating both... You do not currently have access to this content.

Viral Neoliberalism: The Road to Herd Immunity Still A Rocky One.

The objective of this article is to assess the dominant global economic system and the resulting power relations from the perspective of the strategies used worldwide against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The predominantly biomedical approach has not sufficiently taken into account the actual dimension of COVID-19 as a syndemic. While the much longer-term pandemic caused by the neoliberalism virus has not been systematically considered by public and global health scholars in the context of COVID-19, it exhibits essential characteristics of an infectious pathogen, and the symptoms can be described and detected according to biomedical criteria. Even more, the severity of leading symptoms of neoliberalism such as growing inequities calls for immunization campaigns and ultimately herd immunity from viral neoliberalism. However, achieving worldwide immunity would require an anti-neoliberal vaccine, which is extremely challenging to develop vis-à-vis the power relations in global health.

Bringing the lab bench to the field: Point-of-care testing for enhancing health research and stakeholder engagement in rural/remote, indigenous, and resource-limited contexts.

Point-of-care testing (POCT) allows researchers and health-care providers to bring the lab bench to the field, providing essential health information that can be leveraged to improve health care, accessibility, and understanding across clinical and research settings. Gaps in health service access are most pronounced in what we term RIR settings-rural/remote regions, involving Indigenous peoples, and/or within resource-limited settings. In these contexts, morbidity and mortality from infectious and non-communicable diseases are disproportionately higher due to numerous geographic, economic, political, and sociohistorical factors. Human biologists and global health scholars are well-positioned to contribute on-the-ground-level insights that can serve to minimize global health inequities and POCT has the potential to augment such approaches. While the clinical benefits of POCT include increasing health service access by bringing testing, rapid diagnosis, and treatment to underserved communities with limited pathways to centralized laboratory testing, POCT also provides added benefits to both health-focused researchers and their participants. Through portable, minimally invasive devices, researchers can provide actionable health data to participants by coupling POCT with population-specific health education, discussing results and their implications, creating space for participants to voice concerns, and facilitating linkages to treatment. POCT can also strengthen human biology research by shedding light on questions of evolutionary and biocultural importance. Here, we expand on the epidemiological and research value, as well as practical and ethical challenges of POCT across stakeholders (i.e., participant, community, health researcher, and trainee). Finally, we emphasize the immense opportunities of POCT for fostering collaborative research and enhancing access to health delivery and information and, by extension, helping to mitigate persistent global health inequities.

Global oncology and cancer disparities education.

11006 Background: Comprehensive patient care requires an understanding of medical guidelines and the intersectional context of the patient’s identity and experiences. Hematology/Oncology programs must explicitly teach topics addressing various disparities of care to prepare trainees for informed care. We have developed a Global Oncology and Disparities of Cancer Program to address this gap. Methods: The telementoring program was piloted in 2019 at Dartmouth and has evolved to include didactics, discussion, and evaluations. Participants from across the globe include medical students, residents, Hematology/Oncology Fellows, Faculty, Global Health Scholars, and cancer clinicians. US Hematology/Oncology trainees from Dartmouth and the University of Connecticut consistently participate in the international program. Monthly sessions from September 2021-June 2022 include: Esophageal and GI Cancers in Rwanda, HCC and Cholangiocarcinomas, Gastric Cancer, ASCO International, Global Med ED in Haiti, Breast Cancer in Kosovo, Breast Cancer Risk Factor Prediction Tools Research, Shared Decision Making in Breast Cancer, Hemoglobinopathies, and Health Disparities and Capacity-Building in Rwanda. A pre-course survey was sent to identify participant’s demographics, barriers, and expectations. We will administer a post-course survey. Results: We have preliminary data for our ongoing project. However, we anticipate complete data collection and analysis before the ASCO Meeting. 24 participants were enrolled. 12 (52%) of the participants were located outside of the US in locations such as Haiti, Kosovo, and France. Using a 5-point Likert scale, 11 (46%) participants were “not at all” or only “slightly” aware of obstacles faced by Oncology patients and caregivers in seeking access to healthcare in the US. 7 (29%) participants answered similarly regarding those in low- and middle-income countries. Meanwhile, participants rated ‘’gaining different perspectives’’ as their most important reason for attending with 19 (79%) rating this as “very important” or above. For anticipated improvement from the course, understanding risk factors and cancer biology internationally and recognizing disparities in healthcare between domestic and international settings were the highest rated with 18 (75%) expecting an improvement to a “large degree” or higher. Conclusions: We developed a virtual educational experience to enhance participants’ ability to address disparities of care through challenging Global Oncology topics. Our course is ongoing however initial surveys show a need and desire for this content from participants. We intend to analyze the course surveys to shape future courses. This program can serve as a model for Hematology-Oncology programs to address unmet needs in the curriculum and prepare trainees to provide more complete care to improve cancer outcomes.

A 10-Year Glance at the Global Health Scholars Program

A 10-Year Glance at the Global Health Scholars Program

Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology: Kathleen M. Pike.

APA's Committee on International Relations in Psychology (CIRP) is pleased to present the 2021 APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology to Dr. Kathleen M. Pike. Over a nearly 40-year career, Dr. Pike has worked with scholars and research centers around the world. Having conducted valuable and high-quality scholarship around the world, she delivered the keynote address, about the global burden of mental health, at the 2014 G-20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia. In her current role as Director of the Columbia-WHO Center for Global Mental Health, she continues to work tirelessly for the advancement of psychological science as a pathway to improve the lives of people everywhere. This is evident in her development of an evidence-based online toolkit for supporting mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, her establishment of the Global Mental Health Scholars Program, and her founding of the Global Mental Health Small Grants Program. She has taught over a thousand students from more than 60 countries, laying the groundwork for future generations to continue this important work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The Call for Global Health Research Mentorship for Doctorally Prepared Nurses in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Limited research about nursing mentorship in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is holding science back. This article describes the strengths and challenges associated with global health research mentorship for doctorally prepared nurses whose scholarship focuses on LMICs. Using reflexive narrative accounts from current and former nurse mentors and nurse mentees who participated in a NIH-funded global health doctoral research program, emerging themes revealed the perspectives of mentors and mentees, producing a global health mentoring model for nursing research mentorship relevant to LMICs. Identified themes, which applied across roles and primary affiliations, included 1) collaborative mentor-mentee relationships and 2) enthusiasm for global health nursing. Our global health nursing research mentor-mentee interaction systems conceptual model focuses on nursing science mentoring in LMICs incorporating interpersonal, institutional, and cultural factors. We describe successful components of global nurse researcher mentorship and summarize directions for future research in the field. Our model can be used to create more effective mentee-centered mentoring for nurses or health professionals conducting global research. To advance science, we encourage doctorally prepared nurses to support mentee-centered research mentorship experiences that are sensitive to the unique needs of interdisciplinary global health scholarship.

Categorising the Gendered Harms to Caregivers During Humanitarian Emergencies: An Analysis of Law and Practice During Ebola Crises

Recent global health emergencies have highlighted the critical role of health care workers in stemming the spread of pandemics. Healthcare workers provide an essential service to local communities impacted by epidemics such as Ebola. Global health scholars suggest that carers may suffer harm while performing this essential work. Building on feminist theories of ‘harm’ and ‘social reproduction’, this article uses as case studies the early 21st century Ebola epidemics that broke out in West Africa and the DRC to ask how do women carers in humanitarian crises experience harm? The article illustrates the hierarchical and gendered nature of harm, and how those at the bottom of social hierarchies face intersectional harms stemming from their race, class and economic status. The article highlights an urgent need to rethink how law at both the domestic and international levels has contributed to the reproduction of inequalities faced by these carers.

Fear of Disconnecting: Global Health Imaginations and the Transformations of the Taiwanese State

Abstract Global health scholarship concerning AIDS governance often regards the global either as products of translocal connections or as external forces that initiate local restructurings. As a state without a membership in major global organizations, Taiwan alternatively presents a case for conceiving of global health as grounded, competing imaginations which serve as the foundation both for a symbolic pursuit of Taiwan’s global membership and for the transformations of the Taiwanese state. Building on a global ethnography perspective, this study explores the idea of in-pursuit-of-globality nationalism by examining three AIDS projects in Taiwan that configured global and national imaginations simultaneously. It particularly looks into how sexuality and race became sites of transformative struggles in those projects, arguing that Taiwan’s marginality is not only a product of global geopolitics but also a standpoint on which multiple globalities are imagined and (re)produced. As such, this study contributes to global health scholarship by rejecting a monolithic view of the global and the national and by centering racial and sexual imaginations in processes of globalization.

What is considered as global health scholarship? A meta-knowledge analysis of global health journals and definitions

Despite the rapid growth of the global health field over the past few decades, consensus on what qualifies as global health scholarship or practice remains elusive. We conducted a meta-knowledge...

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.