News Article
June 7, 2010
Duke Global Health Diploma Program Targets Chinese Policymakers, Health Practitioners in Second Year
One of the first global health programs of its kind in China, the Duke-Peking University (PKU) Global Health Diploma Program is expanding its focus beyond students this year, to also incorporate major Chinese players in health, public policy and research.
The two-week diploma program, which is taking place at Peking University Health Science Center in Beijing, China this week, is a partnership with the Duke Global Health Institute. Its aim is to provide participants with a deeper understanding of global health as it relates to health systems, ethics and health promotion.
“In addition to traditional students, we hope to better inform policymakers, researchers and practitioners about ways to go about improving the health and populations around the world and better understand the health behaviors of disenfranchised or poor individuals around the world,” said Kathryn Whetten, Duke faculty director of the diploma program and director of DGHI’s Center for Health Policy. “As we begin our second year, we are also thinking about the end goal of building sustainability locally so the program can exist without our input in the future.”
As China continues to emerge as a global leader, the program will engage the Chinese community in learning about global health challenges and health disparities, with the hope that they will disseminate that knowledge widely, build on it in their practice or research, and most importantly, seek to influence policy. Whetten is hopeful the global health diploma program will expand its reach beyond China in the future to be taught across Southeast and East Asia.
There are 37 participants enrolled in the diploma program this year. The 80-hour curriculum, to be taught by four Duke faculty, emphasizes a more participatory teaching style with group work, presentations, lectures with discussion, and a final paper.
“One of the most important things we are doing is bringing a different teaching style to China,” said Whetten. “The way we teach is more engaged and requires student participation, which is very different from the way they are used to being taught. Students loved it last year.”
Duke faculty members include Whetten, Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell (Global Health), Sherryl Broverman (Biology) and Don Taylor (Public Policy). Topics include an Introduction to Global Health Issues, Comparative Health Care Systems, Global Health Ethics, and Health Promotion and Health Behaviors.
“I hope to learn how Chinese students conceptualize health and how they would approach designing health interventions at the individual, community, and policy levels,” said Proeschold-Bell. “I hope that students learn how to systematically develop a health intervention, and how they can act on that learning. “
The Duke-PKU partnership is one of the first of many new partnerships with Chinese academic programs as Duke aims to position itself as a global leader in education and research. DGHI, in partnership with the Sanford School of Public Policy and the Department of Cultural Anthropology, will launch the Global Semester Abroad Program in Spring 2011, in which Duke students will explore health and development issues in China and India.
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