Integration of Global Health into the Curriculum

Global Health coursework is incorporated within the standard four-year medical curriculum as follows:

Orientation
The four-week orientation program includes an overview of Israeli cultures and geography with emphasis on the populations and medical services in the Negev region of Israel. Students are also introduced to global health, medical ethics and emergency medicine and language skills.

Years I and II
First-year students take the full-year Clinical and Global Medicine course, which includes a formal introduction to global health and medicine.  Subjects covered include:

Introduction to Global Health and Medicine

History of global health and current global health players

The global burden of disease and determinants of health

Introduction to Healthcare systems

The Israeli healthcare system

Global health economics

Nutrition and food sciences

Health policy and communication skills

MSIH global health modules (see list below)

Global Health modules are taught in a two-year cycle. Four 8 to 12 hour modules are taught each year. Each student is required to complete four modules of their choice by the end of Year II.  Modules for the 2012-13 academic year are:

Neglected Tropical Diseases, by Professor Zvi Bentwich

International Health Promotion, by Professor Diane Levin-Zamir, PhD, MPH

International Health Organizations, by Dr. Esther Guluma, PhD, MSc

Birth as a Human Rights Issue, by Sheyne Bergner, BA, CNM

Literature and Medicine , by Dr. Olga Kumnova, Professor Gerda Elata-Alster, Professor Barbara Hochman, and Dr. Diana Flescher

Travel Medicine, by Dr. Inbal Fuchs

Nutrition, by MSIH-CU Director Richard Deckelbaum, MD, CM, FRCPC

Anatomy of Urban Health for the Poor and Underserved, by Dr. Marie Therese Feuerstein

Gender Medicine/Women's Health, by Dr. Diana Flescher

HIV/AIDS, by Professor Michael Alkan

Theatrical skills and Medical Clowning VS Language and cultural barriers, by Amnon Raviv and Yoel Tawil

Health Inequalities - Local and International Perspectives, by Dr. Nadav Davidovitch

Global Aspects of Women's Health

 

As part of this course, students also develop their cross-cultural communication skills through weekly visits to health care facilities serving Israel’s diverse communities, such as the Bedouin, Ethiopian and Russian immigrants, and kibbutzim.

Some of the modules offered for the 2011-2012 academic year were:

Birth as a Human Rights Issue

Malaria

Women's Health

International Child Health

Neglected Tropical Diseases

Disaster Management

Nutrition

Medicine Literature

Modules offered for the 2010-11 academic year were:

• Birth as a Human Rights Issue
• Health and the Environment
• Health Inequities - Local and International Perspectives
• International Child Health
• International Health Organizations
• International Health Promotion
• Medical Humanism through the Arts
• Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Nutrition in Global Development
• Travel Medicine
• Urban Health for the Poor and Underserved

 

The Global Health Forum Lecture Series is presented by distinguished visiting professionals. Recent topics have included:

• The Palestinian Health Care System
• Medical Plants in Tribal Societies
• Cross-Cultural Bioethics.

During Years I and II, Global Health is integrated in the standard medical school curriculum of basic science courses and courses in body systems with the insertion of material pertinent to Global Health in lesser developed countries and populations.

Year III
Clerkships in clinical medicine during Year III include exposure to diverse populations and various medical facilities, such as major medical centers, community clinics, and mobile units serving remote desert communities.

A two-day intensive workshop (developed by students) in cross-cultural medicine emphasizes communications skills and awareness of cultural diversity.

Students also complete an introduction and preparation for the two-month Global Health clinical clerkship that takes place in Year IV.

Year IV
The Global Health elective clerkship is a supervised two-month elective in a lesser-developed region of the world consisting of a one-month clinical rotation (with local students) at a university teaching hospital, one month at a rural primary healthcare center, and completion of a supervised research project that addresses a relevant community health issue. The Global Health elective clerkship takes place between mid-January and mid-March of Year IV.

Participants in the teaching and ongoing development of the Global Health curriculum include:

• Faculty from Ben-Gurion University and Columbia University
• Visiting faculty from institutions affiliated with Ben-Gurion University and Columbia University
• Practitioners in the field of IHM from organizations in global health and relief services
• Leaders in health care policy-making and planning from around the world