Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Nov 6;85(1):130.
doi: 10.5334/aogh.2564.

Bending the Arc towards Equitable Partnerships in Global Health and Applied Training

Nina A Martin  1   2 , Anna Kalbarczyk  1   2 , Emily Nagourney  1 , Abigail Reich  1 , Bhakti Hansoti  1   3 , Andrew Kambugu  4 , Thomas C Quinn  1   5 , Yukari C Manabe  1   4   6 , Barbara Castelnuovo  4
Affiliations

Bending the Arc towards Equitable Partnerships in Global Health and Applied Training

Nina A Martin et al. Ann Glob Health. .

Abstract

Background: Global health education has rapidly expanded in popularity, and many programs require applied practical experiences. Applied experiences are critical for global health training. Often a trainee from a high-income country travels to work with collaborators and partners in a low- or middle-income country. These experiences exist within partnerships between individuals and institutions that have varying objectives, including research, program implementation, or education. Attention is growing to ensure equity in these relationships in ways that are informed by the voices of collaborators and partners.

Objectives: Understanding the experiences of LMIC collaborators in academic global health partnerships is essential. Our research aimed to capture views of our partners about factors impacting equitable global health partnerships.

Methods: We conducted a small survey among global health collaborators and partners who host students on these experiences. Respondents were asked to rank enablers and barriers to equitable partnerships in priority order. Results were stratified by institutional affiliation and role.

Results: Funding, time, engagement, and mutual opportunities for training are common enablers and barriers of global health partnerships. There were slight differences across different professional roles. Other reported factors that impact partnerships included language barriers, visa concerns, and identifying opportunities for collaboration.

Conclusions: Our work highlights several barriers and enablers faced by partners that align with those reported across the global health education community. Equitable partnerships are possible and require substantial input at individual, interpersonal, and institutional levels. We reflect on two strategies to encourage partnership equity employed within our own work and discuss how these strategies can be applied more broadly.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Table 1
Table 1
Average ranking of facilitators and barriers overall.
Table 2
Table 2
Average ranking of facilitators and barriers by Institutional Afiliation.
Table 3
Table 3
Average ranking of facilitators and barriers by title/role.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. The Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health. Available from: www.hopkinsglobalhealth.org. Accessed 2019.
    1. Ronald A, Kamya M, Katabira E, Scheld WM and Sewankambo N. The Infectious Diseases Institute at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America. 2011; 25(2): 369–83. DOI: 10.1016/j.idc.2011.02.007 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bozinoff N, Dorman KP, Kerr D, et al. Toward reciprocity: Host supervisor perspectives on international medical electives. Medical Education. 2014; 48(4): 397–404. DOI: 10.1111/medu.12386 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kraeker C and Chandler C. “We Learn From Them, They Learn From Us”: Global Health Experiences and Host Perceptions of Visiting Health Care Professionals. Academic Medicine. 2013; 88(4): 483–7. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3182857b8a - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chin C. Study abroad can be an expensive waste of time. The New York Times. 2013; Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/10/17/should-more-americans-s....