Using the COVID-19 pandemic to reimagine global health teaching in high-income countries

• Published in: BMJ global health Vol. 6; no. 4; p. e005649
• Main Authors: Atkins, Salla, Banerjee, Ananya Tina, Bachynski, Kathleen, Daftary, Amrita, Desai, Gauri, Gross, Aeyal, Hedt-Gauthier, Bethany, Mendenhall, Emily, Meier, Benjamin Mason, Nixon, Stephanie A, Nolan, Ann, Palermo, Tia M, Phelan, Alexandra, Pyzik, Oksana, Roach, Pamela, Sangaramoorthy, Thurka, Standley, Claire J., Yamey, Gavin, Abimbola, Seye, Pai, Madhukar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 01.04.2021; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: COVID-19; Developed Countries; Global health; Global Health - education; Health disparities; Humans; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Pandemics; Public health; Racism; Teaching; COVID-19; health education and promotion; public health
• ISSN: 2059-7908; 2059-7908
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005649

Diversify the audience and allow more people to access course content remotely, where universities permit this.Box 2 Tips and best practices for online teaching Begin the class with a short check-in and ask students how they are are doing to show you care about them; talk to students about mental health, stress and burnout, and anticipate student and teacher fatigue. Global health is neither global nor diverse, and racism and white supremacy are major issues in global health that continue to drive population and individual-level health inequities.6 11 12 Global health is delivered by women and led by men, with HICs dominating every aspect of global health.13 Research has shown a profound need for ongoing anti-oppression and allyship training among future public health and global health students and professionals.14 This need is urgent in the context of COVID-19, decolonisation efforts and Black Lives Matter. [...]we would argue that all global health courses must include content on privilege, anti-oppression and allyship, informed by anti-colonial and critical race theory, as well as intersectionality. Learning about oppression that includes racism—specifically how certain groups are disadvantaged and disproportionately impacted by the public health system, and how professors, as embedded in the system, can unconsciously and sometimes consciously misuse our power and privilege when working with vulnerable communities—is therefore key to disrupting the marginalisation of these groups and to integrate anti-oppression and anti-racism into practice in global health.14 Indeed, every global health educator must actively contemplate and address their complicity in the very systems of inequality that cause health disparities.