The Global Child Health Program was established in 2014 in the Department of Pediatrics and is coordinated by a multi-disciplinary committee wishing to broaden the Montreal Children's Hospital's (MCH) involvement in global health activities. This program builds on the long-standing engagement and expertise in global health of members of the MCH and the Department of Pediatrics.
Mission
The Global Child Health Program aims to contribute sustainably to the health and well-being of children in resource-limited settings by establishing mutually beneficial, lasting partnerships with pediatric centres in low-income countries. These collaborations allow multidisciplinary staff at the hospital to capitalize on their expertise by engaging in meaningful medical education and innovative research with local health care professionals in these partner centres. The program adhere to the principles of sustainability and capacity-building by working collaboratively with health care professionals at partner sites to meet the medical education and research needs that they self-identify, and by offering education in global child health to health care trainees and professionals in Montreal. Lessons learned from these collaborations will also help to improve the care received by the large multicultural population served by our department, as well as vulnerable children living in our community.
Program Activities
- Create and maintain interdisciplinary partnerships in medical education and research with pediatric centres in low-income countries, such as the collaborations already established in Haiti with the Hôpital Saint-Michel and in Rwanda with the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Kigali.
- Engage in global health research with the aim of advocating locally and abroad for children in low-income countries by fostering knowledge translation to community members, health care professionals and policy-makers.
- Deliver a structured global health curriculum for all pediatric residents and an advanced curriculum in pediatric global child health for residents, fellows, and health care trainees and professionals from other disciplines.
- Offer supervised global health electives for senior pediatric residents who have completed the advanced curriculum, and establish a Global Child Health Fellowship training program.
- Facilitate the development and, where appropriate, coordinate interdisciplinary global health projects undertaken by staff at the MCH.
- Collaborate between the departments at the MCH, and with McGill University Global Health Programs and other hospitals and institutions engaged in global health in Montreal.
- Collaborate with other Global Health Programs in North America.
- Coordinate with humanitarian organizations and the Canadian Association of Pediatric Health Centres to provide human resource assistance in humanitarian crises.
Steering Committee Members
Dr. Virginie Clavel, Co-Program Director (gchp [at] mcgill.ca (Email))
Dr. Gillian Morantz, Co-Program Director (gchp [at] mcgill.ca (Email))
Dr. Louise Auger
Dr. Martin Bitzan
Ms. Julia Garland, RN
Dr. Sherif Emil
Dr. Jean-Martin Laberge
Dr. Charles Larson
Dr. Dan Poenaru
Dr. Elisa Ruano Cea
Mr. Stephane Timothee
Dr. Natalie Mathews
Bubbie and Nanny Global Health Travel Bursaries
Every academic year three bursaries are awarded to help defray the costs of senior residents (R3 and R4) wishing to pursue electives in global health.
To apply, residents should submit to the Pediatric Residency Program Director(s) a 1-page description of the planned global health elective, including what they hope to learn/gain from the experience.
Award Amount: $5,000 each
Deadline: There is no absolute deadline for the application, however no further applications will be considered once all three bursaries have already been attributed in an academic year (July 1 - June 30).