The New York Times covers an innovative new program for clinicians
Posted on May 15, 2012
Clinicians from Harvard and Rwanda work side-by-side at clinics run by PIH and the Rwandan Ministry of Health.
The Rwandan Ministry of Health, Partners In Health, and Harvard Medical School have joined forces to launch a Global Health Delivery course for clinicians in Rwanda. The weeklong course encourages students to consider the ways that politics, economics, and other social factors affect health in resource-poor countries. Previously taught only on Harvard's campus, the course now brings Harvard faculty to Rwinkwavu.
In her article, “Hands-On Medical Education in Rwanda," published by The New York Times on May 13, Stephanie Novak writes that "visits to Rwandan clinics and hospitals allow students to see health care in action, and give them the opportunity to collaborate with other professionals to discuss solutions.”
When not meeting in Rwinkwavu, students, faculty, and partners stay in contact via an online portal called Global Health Delivery online.
GHDonline is a platform where health care implementers consult with each other, post information, and access services and content to improve the delivery of health care, according to Sophie Beauvais, web manager for the Global Health Delivery Project. Participants also learn by sharing and responding to a series of case studies that are the core of the GHD course curriculum and are now available for free online.
Whether online or in the field, this course provides a powerful bridge between professionals across the globe.
"We hope to have students come from around the world and learn from them as well, and also have the students learning from each other, because they are all coming from countries where there are things ongoing," Dr. Agnes Binagwaho was quoted saying in the New York Times.
Dr. Binagwaho is both the Rwandan Minister of Health and a Harvard faculty member. And it was she who took the initiative to bring the course to Rwanda, where it will now be held twice a year.
Read “Hands-On Medical Education in Rwanda” in its entirety.
Learn more about Partners In Health’s work in Rwanda.
