Program in Global Health Diplomacy

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Investigator: Vincanne Adams, PhD
Sponsor: UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation

Location(s): United States

Description

Global Health Diplomacy (GHD) may be defined as a political change activity that meets dual goals of improving health while maintaining and improving international relations. GHD training for health and foreign policy professionals as well as for students who may work in the future as researchers or program managers is now a key element of global health education. GHD courses seek to increase understanding of the dynamics of global health governance and to improve negotiation skills by providing insights on institutions and instruments, mechanisms of policy coherence, and frameworks for negotiation. Course topics focused on health issues that cross national boundaries, are global in nature, and require global agreements to address them.
Vision for the GH Diplomacy Initiative
• Step One: An Agenda-Setting Workshop
   – GH Council, NIH, David Fidler, Health Diplomats, Academia, former ambassadors, UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation
   – Define core topics, Develop priorities for training the next generation of health professionals, and Examine pedagogical models
   – Open Source Environment Model. 
• Step Two: A Lunchtime Seminar in Washington, DC
   –A panel of experts present the group's findings on global health diplomacy
   – Audience n=125 from across government, diplomatic community, academia 
• Step Three: Model Summer Training Program
   – Summer 2008, pilot Training Program in Global Health Diplomacy: one-week residential intensive program covered a broad range of issues, including international relations, cultural anthropology, history, international organizations, program planning and evaluation, and related fields. 
   – Target participants were early-career professionals in both medical and social science/public policy fields, as well as more senior professionals who are readying themselves for careers in Global Health (n=30).
   – Extend to government, for example within the Foreign Service Institute, the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, and the NIH Fogarty-Ellison Fellowship 
program. 
   – Extend to academia through global health programs (n=50)