Improving women's health through education and global collaboration: The Women and Health Learning Package

The Women and Health Learning Package (WHLP) is a set of 14 educational modules about women's health developed by the Women and Health Task Force of The Network: TUFH, a global network of individuals and institutions committed to community-based medical education. The goal of the Taskforce is to create women-friendly healthcare providers and health systems through global partnership in training and education. The taskforce represents a largely South-South collaboration model, and has members from more than 20 countries including Egypt, India, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda and the USA. In 2002, the Taskforce received funding from Global Health through Education, Training and Service (GHETS) and Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) to develop learning modules that could be used for health professions students, practitioners and community education. The modules were developed and edited by taskforce members and included problem-based case studies to promote student participation. The first five modules were published in 2005 and piloted by 7 academic institutions in different regions of the world. Based on the initial pilots, 3 projects were then funded to use the modules in community settings: practicing physicians in Egypt, community health workers in Pakistan and internally displaced persons camps in Sudan. A Second Edition was then published in September, 2006 with nine additional modules added to the package. The Taskforce is now focusing on dissemination, evaluation and implementation of the WHLP in academic and community settings. The WHLP represents a crossing of international and professional boundaries to improve women's health.