Dates
Next session to be announced soon!
The course will be presented in eight modules over eight weeks on Wednesdays at noon (EST).
Format
- Live, online sessions delivered via Zoom
- Two hour sessions broadcast once a week for 8 weeks
- Combination of lectures and group discussion
- Recordings and materials shared following each session
Pricing
- PQMD Official Member Rep.:
Complimentary
- PQMD Member Organization Staff:
$500
- Non-Member Corporate:
$1,250
- Non-Member NGO:
$700
- Academic Faculty/Students:
$500
INSIGHTS FOR IMPACT
An 8-Week Executive Survey Course for professionals and students in the global health space.
PQMD’s Global Health & Development Essentials course is an introduction and orientation to international development policies and practices. Participants will gain an improved understanding of the global health policy environment in low- and lower-middle-income countries; learn about the global frameworks and key players providing sustained humanitarian assistance and response for global health and health systems; explore the dynamics and coordination of international disaster and pandemic response, and understand complexities of medical product donation programs within these contexts and existing frameworks.
Who should attend?
Any professional or student in the space that could benefit from an improved understanding of the global health and development landscape.
Past classes included participants from both corporations and NGOs from all levels of seniority. Some professional titles of past students include:
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"The format was casual and allowed for questions/discussions as you go, as opposed to a lecture."
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of the course, students will leave with an improved understanding of the global health and development landscape in general, including the topics outlined below.
- Global Health Overview: Introduction to health dynamics, disparities, WHO regions, and World Bank classifications.
- Global Health Funding: Financial support sources, global health actors, investment types, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Healthcare Systems: Overview of health systems, WHO’s Health System Building Blocks, challenges, and historical examples.
- Climate and Health: Impact of climate change on health, climate science, treaties, and health threats from climate change.
- Health Development: Sustainable development, Universal Health Coverage, workforce strengthening, and technology use.
- Infectious Diseases: Disease transmission, outbreak impact, risk factors, and pandemic preparedness.
- Disaster Response: International disaster response, disaster cycle, key themes, and building disaster resilience.
- Medical Product Donations: Role in global health, guidelines, best practices, and impact challenges.
In self-assessment surveys, past students subject matter knowledge shows increases upwards of 70%. And, students rate the course highly with an average overall grade of 4.4 out of 5.0.
“The speakers were excellent and spoke to real-life situations, which made it easy to stay focused.”
FACULTY
Kelly Willis
Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives,
Malaria No More
In her role as Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives at Malaria No More, Kelly Willis leads the Forecasting Healthy Futures consortium; a coalition of health and technology organizations driving investments and innovation in practical global health solutions in the context of climate change. Kelly has more than 20 years of experience working in infectious disease and global health, designing disease control strategies and helping to strengthen health systems throughout sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Since 2020, Kelly’s focus has been on the threats climate change poses to human health, and in particular how global warming impacts the spread of infectious diseases that affect the world’s most vulnerable populations, and its impact on disease elimination efforts worldwide. Her field experience includes several years living in East Africa, where she helped launch and support the Infectious Diseases Institute at Makerere University, and led a multi-year research program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to better understand the impact of medical training programs on quality of infectious disease care and health outcomes. Kelly’s past leadership roles include Senior Vice President, Global Public Health at United States Pharmacopeia, and Executive Director of Accordia Global Health Foundation. Prior to that, Kelly spent 5 years in finance and economic policy roles at Pfizer, where she also served as a Global Health Fellow. She holds a Distinguished Alumni award from Michigan State University, where she earned a BA in French and an MBA in Supply Chain Management.
Eric Rasmussen
CEO, Infinitum Humanitarian Systems
Dr. Rasmussen is a medical doctor and the CEO for Infinitum Humanitarian Systems (IHS), a multinational consulting group built on a profit-for-purpose model. By training he is an internal medicine physician with both undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University and a European Master’s degree in disaster medicine from the UN World Health Organization’s affiliate CEMEC (Centre European pour la Medecin des Catastrophes) in Italy. He was elected a Fellow of the American College of Physicians in 1997 and a Fellow of the Explorer’s Club in 2014.
He served in the US Navy for 25 years aboard nuclear submarines, amphibious ships, and aircraft carriers. His positions included Fleet Surgeon for the US Navy’s Third Fleet, director of an Intensive Care Unit, and Chairman of an academic department of medicine in Seattle. His wartime deployments included Bosnia (x3), Afghanistan (x2), and Iraq for ten months.
He also spent nine years as a Principal Investigator in humanitarian informatics for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) where his focus was civil-military collaboration in conflict zones. In 2003 he received DARPA’s capstone award as Outstanding Investigator of the Year. Soon after he retired from the Navy to serve as the CEO of InSTEDD, a humanitarian NGO established as a TED Prize by Dr. Larry Brilliant, then Executive Director of Google.org.
Dr. Kate Tulenko
Founder and CEO, Appleseed Education;
Founder and CEO, Corvus Health
Dr. Kate Tulenko is a globally recognized expert in health workforce and health systems, the former Director of the US government’s global health workforce project, and the former coordinator of the World Bank’s Africa health workforce program. She is currently serving two roles: Founder and CEO of the non-profit Center for Health Professional Schools which is working with partners all over the world to train an additional 1 million health workers over the next ten years; and Founder and CEO of Corvus Health, a global health workforce social enterprise that works to increase access to health workers throughout the world through a novel set of approaches including advisory services, HR management, productivity and quality improvement, school expansion, training, and retention. Corvus Health’s clients include hospitals and health systems, medical and nursing schools, insurance companies, the World Bank, Tata Trusts, GE Healthcare, USAID, and private equity firms. Corvus Health’s achievements include assisting the government of Saudi Arabia with the nationalization of its health workforce, the design of the clinical team for the new hospitals of Ireland’s largest health insurer, and the design of the medical simulation lab for Honoris United University, Africa’s largest private university system.
"I liked how relevant and updated the information was."
MODULE DESCRIPTIONS
MODULE 1: Introduction to Global Health & Health Disparities around the World
This module introduces the course format, previews the subject matter covered over the course of seven modules, and provides an overview of health dynamics around the world, with an emphasis on the disparities that characterize much of the developing world. It introduces the World Health Organization’s geographic regions and the World Bank’s income classifications; examines differences in health spending, life expectancies, and burdens of disease across those groupings; and discusses various sources of epidemiological data used by the global health community. The module also sets forth operational definitions for global health, development assistance for health, emergency response versus sustained health assistance, and medical product donation. A case study examines the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, and how it has been used to direct and optimize global investment in health development.
MODULE 2: Global Health Actors & Frameworks for Global Health Engagement
This session introduces financial sources of support for global health efforts, the players responsible for each aspect of development assistance, and the frameworks through which the global health community organizes itself and its work. It begins with an examination of global investment by type and over time, comparing government expenditure to private and philanthropic giving. It introduces various categories of global health actors and provides an illustrative example in each. The module then takes a look at two major international frameworks currently in use (the Sustainable Development Goals the Global Health Security Agenda), and discusses the significance of each and the relevance of donation programs within. A case study takes a look at global polio eradication efforts and the role the private sector has played.
MODULE 3: Health Systems & Health System Constraints in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
This module provides an overview of the structure of typical health systems around the world, with an emphasis on low and lower middle-income countries. The presentation is organized around the World Health Organization’s six Health System Building Blocks: health leadership and governance, financing, access to essential medicines and technologies, health information systems, human resources and health workforce, and service delivery. For each component of a typical health system, the module presents its primary role and function, discusses common challenges and constraints in resource-limited settings, and provides a historical example of a global health effort to strengthen that aspect of the health system. Discussion is focused on how effectively implemented medical product donations can contribute to lasting improvement and health system strength.
MODULE 4: Climate and Environmental Impacts on Public Health Outcomes NEW!
This module introduces the impact of global warming on health systems and health outcomes around the world, with an emphasis on most impacted countries. The content first provides a “primer” on climate change, including a review of the underlying science, basic principles behind the most critical governing treaties and agreements, and an overview of the landscape of major actors leading the global response. The module then turns to our growing understanding of the threats to health and livelihoods posed by rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and extreme weather events, including rising levels of climate sensitive infectious disease transmission, declining food security and nutrition levels, and climate’s role in exacerbating conflict and migration challenges.
MODULE 5: Approaches and Trends in Global Health & Sustained Development Assistance
This session takes a closer look at current approaches to health development among the global community. It examines the definition of “sustainable” as pertains to global health initiatives and outcomes, and introduces Universal Health Coverage as a key concept and an aspirational component of the globally-adopted Sustainable Development Goals. The module then presents several categories and specific principles and approaches to sustainable development, including: improved strategies for health workforce strengthening, renewed focus on multi-sectoral engagement, the application of big data and mobile phone technologies, and efforts to improve local ownership of externally-funded health system strengthening initiatives. A case study examines a Tanzanian initiative to accredit retail drug shops, and tees up a discussion on the challenges of donating drugs within a complex national system of pharmaceutical regulation and reality.
MODULE 6: Infectious Disease Outbreaks & Pandemics
Module 6 is focused on infectious disease transmission, the realities of disease outbreaks and pandemics, and the mechanics of local and international response. It provides illustrative examples of past outbreaks, and examines the actual and potential impact in terms of lives lost, direct expense, and the intangible damage to already weak health systems. The module discusses risk factors for uncontrolled transmission, the vulnerabilities prevalent in low and lower middle-income countries, and the types of surveillance systems in use or planned to avoid catastrophic pandemics. In particular, the Global Health Security Agenda’s action packages are presented, including laboratory networks, vaccine stockpiles and other international cooperation. The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa is used as a case study, and discussion is focused on relevant response considerations: commodities needed urgently, sources and donations, and the complications of delivery.
MODULE 7: Other Emergency Response & Disaster Relief Efforts
This session provides an overview of international response to disasters around the world. It describes the direct and indirect effects of multiple disaster scenarios, and the frequent causes of morbidity and mortality in disaster-affected populations. It presents the typical disaster cycle and reactionary stages, and within those focuses on key themes such as operations and logistics, environmental hygiene monitoring, nutrition and mental health management. The module also describes the role of major donor organizations and other stakeholders on the responding side, and discusses strategies to build disaster resilience in vulnerable parts of the world. A case study discusses the protracted consequences of the Haiti earthquake, and discussion is encouraged around the role of medical product donations in each of four disaster response phases.
MODULE 8: Medical Product Donations in Global Health
This module is focused squarely on medical product donation and its role in global health, both as relates to disaster response initiatives and to long-term health system strengthening initiatives. With the previous sessions as a backdrop, this module discusses the rationale, advantages, and particularities of product donation as a global health contribution. The session reviews existing guidelines and best practices for donation programs, compares and contrasts multiple delivery and partnership models, and addresses the key challenges to effective donation impact. Discussion is facilitated around impact evaluation, new partnership models, and future possibilities for more impactful donation programs.
“I definitely think the course brought my level of detailed understanding of global health up a level.”
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. What is the Global Health & Development Essentials Course? The course is an 8-week executive survey designed for medical product donation professionals. It covers global health topics such as health disparities, health systems, and international disaster response.
2. Who should enroll in this course? Professionals or students working in global health without formal education in the field, especially those involved in donation and giving programming.
3. What is the format of the course? The course is delivered online, with live lectures and discussion. Supporting materials and session recordings are provided following each week’s class.
4. Are there any prerequisites for enrollment? No specific prerequisites are required. Participants come from diverse educational and professional backgrounds.
5. 6. How much does the course cost?
- PQMD Official Member Representative: No fee
- PQMD Member Organization Employee: $500
- Non-Member (Corporate): $1,250
- Non-Member (NGO): $700
- Academic Faculty/Students: $500
7. What topics are covered in the course? The course covers global health disparities, health systems in low- and middle-income countries, global health frameworks, disaster response, and medical product donations.
8. How are the modules structured? Each module includes a 90-minute lecture followed by a 30-minute discussion. Materials and recordings are available online.
9. Who are the instructors? Modules are delivered by expert guest lecturers, including the course coordinator with substantial experience in global health.
10. What if I cannot attend all 8 sessions? No problem! Session recordings and supporting materials are provided to all registered students following each week’s session.
11. Are group/team discounts available? Please contact us at [email protected] to inquire about group discount options.
