The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #42149

Trude Bennett, DrPH, Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, CB# 7445, 401 Rosenau Hall, UNC-CH School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7445, (919) 966-5977, trude_bennett@unc.edu and Janet L. Place, MPH, NC Institute for Public Health, UNC School of Public Health, CB# 8165, Tate-Turner-Kuralt Bldg., Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8165.

Demand for international perspectives and relevant training for global MCH careers has intensified in US Schools of Public Health in recent decades. The student base in MCH programs has shifted to include a critical mass of Peace Corps returnees and others who combine liberal arts or social science backgrounds with experience or interest in working internationally on such issues as HIV/AIDS, family planning, gender-based violence, and women's empowerment. At the same time the forces of globalization have called traditional curriculum approaches into question, and introduced the mutual benefit of sharing analyses and creative approaches from the North and South to address emerging viruses and other public health problems that do not respect national borders. This presentation will share an attempt to globalize a core MCH course on Maternal and Infant Health and Family Planning by incorporating descriptive content, analytic approaches, and interventions from other industrialized as well as developing countries. Pedagogical methods as well as curriculum content will be described, and student responses will be discussed. At the same time, demand from public health practitioners and academics in developing countries for continuing education and training has increased. As examples of responses to those needs, intensive reproductive health courses in Southern Africa and Southeast Asia will be described and contrasted with the US-based experience, and the authors will discuss distance education efforts to expand MCH educational opportunities for students in developing countries and link them with resources and other students worldwide.

Learning Objectives: After attending this presentation, participants (learners) should be able to

• Articulate the need for global training in MCH courses at US Schools of Public Health and the skills currently required for MCH students to achieve their career objectives;
• Identify the commonalities and differences in the needs of US students and MCH practitioners seeking continuing education in developing countries;
• Describe some models of globalization in domestic and international MCH curriculum and training; and
• Analyze the potential strengths and limitations of utilizing internet-based courses and other distance education methodologies to expand access to students in developing countries and to make global linkages among trainees.

Keywords: Global Education, Maternal and Child Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan Institute Asia (UNC), Family Health International, Mahidol University Faculty of Public Health, University of Pretoria School of Public Health
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.