Interprofessional Global Health Course

Overview

The McGill Interprofessional Global Health Course (IPGHC) is a student-led initiative that was started in 2007 in an effort to address the paucity of global health content at the time in health professional students’ curricula at McGill University. Now, in its 13th year, the course aims to build on current curricula and engage participants in an interdisciplinary discussion of global health contexts. It is open to McGill students studying dentistry, medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, social work, dietetics and human nutrition, and students from other academic backgrounds with a strong interest in global health. The course is given in a 10-week series of lectures on Tuesday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 pm; 1 hour of lectures and 1 hour of student-led activities.

Objectives

1. To increase student awareness of the global burden of diseases and the geopolitics of global health.
2. To expose students to the realities and challenges facing health professionals in a global and local context.
3. To provide a framework for students to approach global health challenges.
4. To encourage inter-professionalism by facilitating collaboration and communication amongst students.
5. To inspire students to consider applying global health principles to their professional practice.

To meet these objectives, the course will employ lecture-based learning, case studies, speakers and panel discussions, small group activities, and audio-visual materials.

Course Details

Who can apply? The course is open to McGill students from the programs of medicine, dentistry, nursing, dietetics and human nutrition, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work, and speech-language pathology. We also welcome students from other majors (U2 and above).

When is the class? The 2020 course was held from January 7 to March 24 2020 on Tuesday evenings from 6PM to 8PM.

Where? McIntyre Medical Building (3655 promenade Sir William Osler) room 208/9

What? Subjects covered by the course included global burden of disease, ethics and cultural safety, politics and policy, refugee health, food insecurity, environment and indigenous health, and many more!

Specifics: 

• It is free!
• It is a non-credited course.
• A certificate of completion will be given out at the end of the course. To qualify for the Certificate, participants need to be present at 8 out of the 10 classes, complete a quick pre- and post-survey, and submit a short final reflective assignment that will not be graded.
• Students in medicine and dentistry completing this class will have a mention on their MSPR (Dean's Letter).
• There are only 80 spots this year! Selection will be based on program, year of study, and elements of motivation for taking this course.

Registration

Registration for the 2020 course is now closed

Schedule

This is a preliminary version of the 2020 course schedule.

Week 1: Introduction to Global Health

Dr. Tim Evans, MD, PhD

Dr. Tim Evans is currently the Director and Associate Dean of the recently established School of Population and Global Health (SPGH) in the Faculty of Medicine and Associate Vice-Principal (Global Policy and Innovation). As the director of Health, Nutrition, and Population Global Practice he completed a 6 year tenure with the World Bank Group. Additionally, from 2010 to 2013 Dr. Evans was the Dean of the James P. Grant School of Public Health at BRAC University in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Senior Advisor to the BRAC Health Program. From 2003 to 2010 he held the Assistant Director General position at the World Health Organization (WHO). Other notable positions include Director of Health Equity Theme at the rockefeller Foundation and Assistant Professor of International Health Economics at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Evans has led the Global Health field in domains of health equity and policy regarding health systems. His work involves many communities and populations.

Week 2: Topic and speaker to be confirmed

Week 3: Indigenous Health

Ms. Glenda Sandy, BNSc, MSc

Glenda Sandy, RN, BNSc, is a Naskapi Cree nurse from the community of Kawawachikamach, QC and member of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation of Manitoba. She obtained her Nursing Diploma from St. Lawrence College-Kingston and her Bachelor of Nursing Science from Queen’s University. She is currently finishing her Master’s in Public Health (M.Sc.) from Université Laval with her final paper entitled, Naskapi Miyupiimaatisiiun ᓇᔅᑲᐱ ᒥᔪ ᐱᒪᑎᓯᐅᓐ: An exploration of a Naskapi meaning of health. Throughout her career has worked primarily for her home community of Kawawachikamach in various functions: Expanded Role Nurse, Health and Social Service Program Manager and Community Health Nurse.

Outside of her community Glenda has always been drawn to areas that focus is on the promotion and integration of Indigenous Health. She is currently an Infectious Disease Nurse Advisor for the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services where she is leading the development and implementation of a Community Health Officer training program. She is also an Associate Member of McGill’s Ingram School of Nursing where she is an Indigenous Nurse Consultant involved in the redesign of a more ethically sound and culturally safe curriculum that introduces future nurses to Indigenous issues. In addition, she co-developed and advises the School’s Ashukin Program, a program which enables Nursing students to acquire clinical learning experiences in Indigenous communities in Quebec and act as mentors for youth interested in pursuing Nursing as a career.

She is a devoted mother of five children. The values instilled in her by her parents and extended family were imparted where her ancestors were: nuuhchimiihch, on the land. Growing up she learned about the value of respect, resilience and strength and uses these values to guide her practice and her work.

Week 4: Oral Health as Global Health

Dr. Paul Allison, BDS, MSc, PhD, Professor at the Faculty of Dentistry McGill University, President of the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry (ACFD), President-Elect of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS)

Paul is a dentist with professional training in the fields of oral surgery and dental public health, plus research training in the field of clinical epidemiology. His research interests concern evaluation of clinical and other interventions aimed at improving oral health among patient groups, plus health service and population level interventions to improve oral health, oral health care and health policies. His particular areas of research interest is understanding barriers to accessing to dental care and how to overcome them, including training dental and other health care professionals in ways that help improve access to dental care. He also aims to help translate evidence into action through participation in a number of organizations whose goals aim to improve education, research health, health care and health policy. As such, he is heavily involved in the activities of the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Week 5: Contemporary Issues in Humanitarian Action

John Pringle, BScN, MSc, PhD

John Pringle is Assistant Professor at the Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University, and Vice Chair of the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Ethics Review Board. John is a nurse and epidemiologist with a PhD in public health and bioethics. John’s first mission with MSF was as a nurse working in IDP camps along the Eritrean/Ethiopian border (2001). Upon his return, he did an MSc in Community Health and Epidemiology, and then two more MSF missions, both in northern Nigeria as a nurse-epidemiologist, responding to meningitis outbreaks (2006) and the Zamfara lead-poisoning outbreak (2010). After completing his PhD, John worked for MSF in Sierra Leone during the West Africa Ebola crisis (2015). He then did a Postdoctoral Fellowship at McGill University with the Humanitarian Health Ethics Research Group. John now teaches and conducts research in global health, humanitarian ethics, and research ethics.

Week 6: Reproductive, maternal and child health: scaling-up for sustainable impact

Dr. Yves Bergevin, MD, MSc

Associate Professor, Director of Global Health Programs in the Department of Family Medicine, Médecin conseil, Institut National d'excellence en santé et services sociaux; Consultant, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Dr. Yves Bergevin completed twelve years of service at the United Nations in 2013, where he was Coordinator of the Maternal Health Thematic Fund (MHTF) and Senior Maternal Health Advisor, providing overall leadership in maternal health for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). He has held several senior level positions in global health, including Chief Health at UNICEF, where he fostered a renewed focus on child survival and a major increase in funding for health. Prior to this, he was Principal Advisor, Health, Population and Nutrition for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), wrote CIDA’s first ever Strategy for Health and contributed to making health a development priority for Canada. He advocated successfully for a renewed focus on immunization and was, together with his Minister, one of the founding Board Members of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), convinced of the benefits of performance-based funding towards sustained impact. He also fostered a strong health, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and development focus of G8 Summits, submitted with a colleague to the Government of Canada the concept of a global fund and secured the initial Canadian funding towards the creation of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). He then convened G7 members around the issue leading to the initial G7 pledging of funds for the GFATM. He has also served as a Member of the Board on Global Health, National Academies of Sciences (USA), and a Member of the STOP TB Coordinating Board and of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership Board.

Week 7: Ecosystems Approach to Health & Climate

Dr. Jena Webb, MSc, PhD, Director of Programmes, CoPEH-Canada

Dr. Jena Webb earned her PhD from McGill University in the Department of Geography conducting research on mercury and hydrocarbon pollution in watersheds in the Upper Amazon. She has continued to work with Indigenous groups in the Ecuadorian Amazon to address causes of contamination, including deforestation and the petroleum industry. Dr. Webb avidly participates in research, and focuses on ways to engage the community in solutions to climate changes. Most recently, she was a scientific advisor for Amazon Frontlines and Ceibo Alliance, an indigenous-led non-profit organization which is dedicated to defending Indigenous territory and rights as well as leading movements against rainforest destruction. In addition to research, Dr. Webb played a large role in developing the Community in Practice of Ecosystems Approaches to Health (CoPEH) a community of scholars and healthcare practitioners with a goal of considering ecosystems when innovating health and sustainability. A couple of areas of action for CoPEH include an interdisciplinary course, research using ecosystem approaches to health, and international collaboration.

Week 8: Politics and policy

Dr. Raphael Lencucha, BScKin, BScOT, PhD, Associate Professor School of Physical and Occupational Therapy

Dr. Lencucha is an Associate Professor in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy. Prior to joining McGill University in 2013 he was an Assistant Professor in the Public Health Program at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. His principal area of research focuses on global health governance and the political economy of public health policy. He has conducted research on the development and negotiation of the first global public health treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). His current research focuses on the implementation of the FCTC in Brazil, Philippines, Kenya, Malawi (a non-signatory) and Zambia. The latter research examines institutional design, intersectoral and multilevel governance and their impact on FCTC implementation. His work has appeared in the Lancet, Health Policy and Planning, the Journal of Public Health Policy, the Journal of Health Politics Policy and Law, Globalization and Health, Global Health Governance among others.

Week 9: Environmental Health: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Dr. Daniele Lantagne, BS, MEng, PhD

Dr. Lantagne is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Tufts University. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996 and 2001. She received her Ph.D. from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2011. Between her degrees she worked as a Public Health Engineer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2003-2010) and the Programs Director of the Ipswich River Watershed Association (1997-2000). Before joining Tufts University, she completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Sustainability Science at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Since 2000, she has provided technical assistance to, and evaluation of, water treatment programs in more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, and Central/South America.

Week 10: Panel Discussion and Global Health at McGill Fair

Course Materials

All course materials can be found of MyCourses for registered participants.

The McGill IPGHC Team 2019-2020

Student Coordinators

Radhika Chhibber, MSc. Dental Sciences Candidate (2020)
Hailey Blanchard, B.Sc.N. Candidate (2020)
Lucille Xiang, B.Sc. In Rehabilitation (Physical Therapy) Candidate (2021)
Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen, M.D., C.M. (2023)

Faculty advisors

Dr. Yves Bergevin, MD, Global Health Program Director, Department of Family Medicine, McGill University
Stephanie Laroche-Pierre, MSc, Student Affairs Administrator, Global Health Programs, McGill University
Hiba Zafran, OT(C), PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University
Dr. Svetlana Tikhonova, DMD, PhD, Faculty Lecturer, Faculty of Dentistry, McGill Dentistry
Catherine-Anne Miller, RN, MHSc, Full-time Faculty Lecturer, Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University

Video Suggestions

The UN Millennium Declaration (3 min, 2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?index=0&feature=PlayList&v=vddX4n30sXY&list...
Short introductory video which lists the 8 MDG and is accompanied by an excerpt from Kofi Annan’s address to the millennium summit in 2000.

Yes they can! Gapminder by Rosling:  
http://www.gapminder.org/videos/yes-they-can/
http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen
About low and middle income countries that, with economic and health progress, are catching up with high income countries.

Gapminder  on maternal health
http://www.gapminder.org/videos/gapcasts/gapcast-7-maternal-mortality/

The girl effect (3 min)
http://www.girleffect.org/media?id=3007
Quick animation about issues affecting maternal health.

My Sister Myself  (13min, 2003)
http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/resources.cfm?a0=video&play=MYSISTERM...
Short video featuring testimony of mothers and midwives in villages and slums across Africa and South East Asia.

First, Do No Harm: A Qualitative Research Documentary (1 hr, by Alyson and Tim Holland) ttp://vimeo.com/22008886

WHO: Mental Health (5 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8iRjEOH41c&feature=channel

Video: 3rd World Canada, Family on the Edge
The synopsis: Set in the backdrop of the aftermath of the suicide of three parents, the documentary explores the impact of 3rd world conditions on the children left behind and a community's courage in looking after them.       

The trailer is here: https://vimeo.com/11700860

Interesting Clips
Short clips calling for action to solves global issues.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyuyQLN3uNw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1wh1ukOGfo&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vy1kTV_mdc

UNICEF movies
http://www.youtube.com/user/unicef