Above. Chris Reynolds with Michigan Medicine student Rachel O’Reggio and Dr. Lemfuka Dieudonne at ELWA Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia.
A new publication from U-M authors and an international collaborator offers an easily digestible guide for learners planning international educational experiences in low-resource settings.
Written by U-M Medical School student Christopher Reynolds—with Center director Joseph Kolars and the University of Global Health Equity’s Abebe Bekele—the paper, Ten Questions to Guide Learners Seeking Equitable Global Health Experiences Abroad, is now online at Academic Medicine.
As the title indicates, the team presents a list of essential questions every learner should ask before heading abroad in order to ensure an experience that is ethical, equitable, and engaging.
“Learner interest in global health is robust. Despite the appeal of such opportunities—international travel, cultural competency, and lasting partnerships, among many others—dilemmas proliferate, including unethical clinical practices, unsustainable medical interventions, exploitative data mining, coercive program planning, and unequal funding priorities,” the authors note. “By incorporating these learner-directed questions with an ethos of personal responsibility and self-reflection, learners, faculty members, and their LMIC partners can participate in mutually beneficial experiences that are aligned with global health equity.”
Here are the ten primary questions and sub-prompts adapted from their paper.
Reynolds, C.W., Kolars, J.C., and Bekele, A. "Ten Guestions to Guide Learners Seeking Equitable Global Health Experiences Abroad." Academic Medicine (April 2023).
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“Learner interest in global health is robust. Despite the appeal of such opportunities—international travel, cultural competency, and lasting partnerships, among many others—dilemmas proliferate, including unethical clinical practices, unsustainable medical interventions, exploitative data mining, coercive program planning, and unequal funding priorities.”
