Global Health Norway established a working group including members from the Centre for Global Health to suggest global health competencies in health sciences and medical education and training.
Photo: Canva
Competencies should take into account the needs of the professionals for whom they are developed. However, there is a need to think beyond the needs of local trainees and reflect on broader implications in different settings when developing global health competencies. Future work also needs to take into consideration the implementation and evaluation aspects of these competencies.
Global Health Norway (GHN) working group consisted of seven members representing different institutions including Jeanette H. Magnus, Director and Mekdes Gebremariam, Deputy Director from the Centre for Global Health at the University of Oslo.
The process included a review of relevant literature and general frameworks in the area of global health competencies, which were presented and discussed during several work group meetings. Considerations included a definition of global health and key elements were summarized based on the available literature and data.
The working group focused on the following:
- Diseases and health-related issues no longer confined within national boundaries
- A global increase in population movement and in ethnic minority populations
- Increasingly globalized and interconnected world
- Clear perceived needs for global health competencies by different health professionals
- Lack of consensus in different settings including Norway regarding competencies in global health
Visit Global Health Norway to review this information along with the list of global health competencies suggested by the working group.
