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Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are struggling to reduce maternal mortality rates, despite increased efforts by the United Nations through the implementation of their Millennium Development Goals program. Industrialized nations, such as Canada, have a collaborative role to play in raising the global maternal health standards. The purpose of this paper is to propose policy approaches for Canadians and other Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations who wish to assist in reducing maternal mortality rates.

Ten Canadian health experts with experience in global maternal health were interviewed. Using qualitative analytical methods, the authors coded and themed their responses and paired them with peer-reviewed literature in this area to establish a model for improving global maternal health and survival rates.

Findings from this study indicated that maternal health may be improved by establishing a collaborative approach between interdisciplinary teams of health professionals (e.g. midwives, family physicians, OB/GYNs and nurses), literacy teachers, agriculturalists and community development professionals (e.g. humanitarians with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds). From this, a conceptual approach was devised for elevating the standard of maternal health. This approach includes specifications by which maternal health may be improved, such as gender justice, women’s literacy, freedom from violence against women, food and water security and healthcare accessibility. This model is based on community health center (CHC) models that integrate upstream changes with downstream services may be utilized by Canada and other OECD nations in efforts to enhance maternal health at home and abroad.

Maternal mortality may be reduced by the adoption of a CHC model, an approach well suited for all nations regardless of economic status. Establishing such a model in LMICs would ideally establish long-term relationships between countries, such as Canada and the LMICs, where teams from supporting nations would collaborate with local Ministries of Health, non-government organizations as well as traditional birth attendants and healthcare professionals to reduce maternal mortality.

All OECD Nations ought to donate 0.7 percent of their GDP toward international community development. These funds should break the tradition of “tied aid”, thereby removing profit motives, and genuinely contribute to the wellbeing of people in LMICs, particularly women, children and others who are vulnerable. The power of partnerships between people whose aims are genuinely focused on caring is truly transformative.

Canada is not a driver of global maternal mortality reduction work but has a responsibility to work in partnership with countries or regions in a humble and supportive role. Applying a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to reducing maternal mortality in the Global South includes adopting a CHC model: a community development approach to address social determinants of health and integrating various systems of evidence-informed healthcare with a commitment to social justice. Interdisciplinary teams would include literacy professionals, researchers, midwives, nurses, family physicians, OB/GYNs and community development professionals who specialize in anti-poverty work, mediation/dialogue and education campaigns that emphasize the value of all people regardless of their gender, ethnicity, religion and income. Diasporic Canadians are invaluable members of these teams due to their linguistic and cultural knowledge as well as their enthusiasm for working with their countries of origin. Establishment of long-term partnerships of 5–10 years between a Canadian team and a region or nation in the Global South that is dedicated to reducing maternal mortality and improving women’s health are valuable. Canada’s midwifery education programs are rated as world leaders so connecting midwives from Canada with those of the Global South will facilitate essential transfer of knowledge such as using birth plans and other evidence-based practices. Skilled attendants at the birth place will save women’s lives; in most cases, trained midwives are the most appropriate attendants. Video link to a primer about this paper by Dr Farah Shroff: https://maa.med.ubc.ca/videos-and-media/.

There are virtually no retrievable articles that document why OECD nations ought to work with nations in the LMICs to improve maternal health. This paper outlines the reasons why it is important and explains how to do it well.

This study aims to explore whether globalization and technology are harmful to health using a global panel data set of 52 countries over the period 1990–2019.

The study focused on four continents: Africa, the Americas, Asia/Oceania and Europe. The authors used four advanced econometric methodologies, which include the standard panel fixed effect (FE), Arellano–Bover/Blundell–Bond dynamic panel, Hausman–Taylor specification and two-stage least squares (FE-2SLS)/Lewbel-2SLS approaches.

The empirical evidence highlights the significance of globalization and technology in promoting global health. The findings suggest that globalization has various impacts on global health indicators and that technology is useful in tracking, monitoring and promoting global health. In addition, the empirical evidence indicates that a truly health-centred process of globalization and technological innovation can only be realized by ensuring that the interests of countries and vulnerable populations to health risks are adequately considered in international decision-making regarding global economic integration.

The authors suggest that achieving the aspiration of global health will entail the use of globalization and information technology to extend human activities and provide equal access to global health.

The improving global health (IGH) programme is a leadership development programme that aims to develop leadership skills and behaviours alongside quality improvement methodology in National Health Service (NHS) employees in a global health setting. Through collaboration, experiential learning and mentorship, the programme aims to produce both vertical and horizontal leadership development in its participants. This paper aims to describe the programme and its impact, in terms of leadership development, in a sample of participants.

Open coding and thematic analysis of leadership development summaries (LDS) completed by 39 returned IGH participants were conducted. LDS are written on completion of the overseas placement; participants reflect on their personal leadership development against the nine dimensions of the NHS Healthcare Leadership Model (2013).

These IGH programme participants have reported a change in the way they think, behave and see the world. A development in sense of self and experience in developing team members are the two most commonly reported themes. Adaptability, communication, overcoming boundaries, collaborative working, “big picture” thinking and strategic thinking were also identified.

The study is limited by the relatively low number of completed LDS. More work is needed to understand the long-term effect of this type of leadership development on the NHS. Other leadership development programmes should consider focussing on vertical and horizontal leadership development.

This more granular understanding of the leadership skills and behaviours developed and how it is the programme’s design that creates it, has not previously been described.

One Health is defined as an approach of integrating animal, human, and environmental health to mitigate diseases. One Health promotes public health by studying all factors, such as agriculture, food, and water security, mechanisms of toxicity and pathogenesis of acute and chronic diseases, sociology, economics, and ecosystem health (to name a few). Such an approach is essential because human, animal, and ecosystem health are inextricably linked; therefore, with this One Health approach, we are called to work together to promote, improve, and defend the health and well-being of all by enhancing cooperation and collaboration between physicians, veterinarians social scientists, economists, psychologists, legal professionals, philosophers, and other scientific health and environmental professionals. As such, the One Health movement and approach is a growing vision in global health and is gaining increasing recognition by national and international institutions, organizations, stakeholders, NGOs, and health policymakers. Likewise, the role of world-class universities is pivotal in discovering One Health scientific knowledge and translating them to policy and evidence-based practices. Universities have responsibilities to train future professionals capable of solving global health issues through interdisciplinary scientific knowledge, integrative approaches to teaching, research collaboration, community linkages, and leadership. This chapter discusses the importance of One Health and the role of higher education institutions’ One Health partnerships to improve global health.

Global health challenges and threats could be confronted by collaborative efforts of international community. Governance for global health is a set of formal and informal processes, operating beyond state boundaries, and refers to institutions and mechanisms established at the national, regional and international levels. Nordic countries demonstrated a long-standing commitment to development assistance for health (DAH), and more recently to governance for global health. Governance for global health tools could be used effectively to achieve collective solutions for the maintenance and promotion of health as a common good, could ensure accountability and transparency, and reconcile the interests of different actors on the international and national levels. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of tools and approaches in support of eight sub-functions of governance for global health applied by the Nordic countries. This will help international audience to compare those mechanisms with similar mechanisms that are available or planned in their countries and regions, and may benefit policy scholars and practitioners.

This study uses qualitative review of research literature, policy documents and information available from institutional websites related to the governance of global health in four Nordic countries. In total, 50 selected publications were analyzed using framework synthesis, mapping all findings to 8 dimensions (sub-functions) of governance for global health and related tools.

Review reveals which tools are available, how they have been applied by the Nordic countries and influenced all domains (sub-functions) of governance for global health at different levels: national governments, agencies and networks; bilateral and multilateral partnerships; inter-governmental institutions and international health-related organizations. Common trends and approaches in governance for global health have been formulated.

This study is unique in relation to the prior literature as it looks at the role of Nordic countries in the governance for global health system through the lens of tools applied in support to its sub-functions.

There is growing awareness that global public health problems are so complex, and require such major resources, that neither states nor other stakeholders can tackle them and achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs) on their own. This paper aims to examine the relevance of the MDGs to the pharmaceutical sector and summarizes the industry's contributions to helping achieve the MDGs in the context of its business goals.

The paper reviews the MDGs for which industry has made significant contributions, particularly goal 4: reduce child mortality; goal 5: improve maternal health; goal 6: combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and goal 8: develop a global partnership for development. The paper focuses on two public‐private partnerships (PPPs) in particular – the Merck MECTIZAN^® Donation Program, for the elimination of river blindness as a public health problem, and the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Botswana – and outlines some lessons learned. The paper also offers some considerations for PPPs to contribute further to public health and the MDGS in the future.

The pharmaceutical industry has made some major contributions to addressing public health challenges. Along the way, companies such as Merck & Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, New Jersey; Merck operates in most countries outside the USA as Merck Sharp & Dohme) have learned useful lessons that can be shared to inform the approach and practices of other PPPs in global health.

Relatively few overviews document the industry's contributions to public health, especially in relation to the MDGs. This paper provides a first step to fill that gap at a time when interest in PPPs is increasing.

This chapter proposes a global agenda to eliminate racism in nursing by targeting reform at nursing education administration internationally. First, the history of racism in nursing is reviewed, along with two models – the diversity model and the cultural competence model – that were applied unsuccessfully to counteract racism in nursing. Second, a description of how racism is entrenched in nursing leadership globally is presented. Third, the recalcitrant structures that serve to maintain institutionalized racism (IR) in the international nursing education system are carefully examined. Specifically, the components and constructs involved in IR in nursing education are delineated, and the way in which these negatively impact both ethnic minority (EM) students and faculty are explained. Based on this, a global agenda to eliminate racism in nursing education internationally is proposed. Eliminating racism in higher education in nursing is a mandatory social responsibility if global healthcare is ever to be equitable. Five actionable recommendations are made to eliminate racism in higher education are summarized as follows: (1) components of nursing programs which are designed to eliminate racism in nursing education should be governed at the country level, (2) to design and implement a system of surveillance of the global nursing community to enable standardized measurement to ensure nursing education programs in all countries are meeting anti-racism benchmark targets, (3) nursing education programs should be established worldwide to provide individual pipeline and mentorship programs to ensure the career success of EM nursing students and faculty, (4) nursing education programs should be conducted to reduce barriers to EM participation in these individual support programs, and (5) nursing education programs are required to teach their nursing faculty skills in developing anti-racist curricula that seeks to eliminate implicit bias.

This paper aims to show through empirical examples how five foresight methods have provided value in medicine and global health, and to argue for greater use of health foresight.

Through evaluation, literature search, and personal experiences, five approaches were identified where health foresight has shown strong value: forecasting, scenario planning, Delphi, technology roadmapping, and mass collaboration. For each approach, compelling examples are given, and usage and potential discussed.

There is great opportunity to learn from and expand on past successes, and to customize foresight methods to help decision making in medicine and global health. The range of novel applications to date provides clear evidence that applying foresight methods to health can help prepare for the future, including development of policy and health interventions.

Metrics for the impact of health foresight are not widely used, and could be a focus of future research.

By seeing compelling examples of diverse foresight methods in medicine and global health, readers will be better equipped to improve health systems and interventions, and prepare for future public health incidents.

The paper brings together discussion of a range of health foresight success stories, and suggests potential customizations of foresight for the health field. Readers who are health professionals or involved in making policy for health systems will gain a toolbox for creative planning. Readers who are foresight professionals will gain a better understanding of which foresight methods have shown value in medicine and global health, and potential refinement of foresight techniques for health applications.

Improving Global Health is a one year leadership scheme which places trainee doctors and more experienced nurses, midwives and AHPs in a developing country (Cambodia or Tanzania) to develop leadership and quality improvement skills while contributing to Millennium goals in the developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to report on an independent evaluation of the programme, with the purpose of highlighting lessons learned to inform other leadership development initiatives, and in particular to highlight the vital importance of a receptive NHS environment if maximum value is to be gained from investment in clinical leadership.

The evaluation methodology comprised literature review; review of documentation, including on line questionnaires to Fellows; interviews with stakeholders and attendance at key scheme events in July‐September 2011. Fellows who had completed an overseas placement in either Cambodia or Tanzania during 2009‐2010 were interviewed using a semi structured questionnaire. Mentors and Steering Group members were interviewed using an amended version of the Fellows' questionnaire.

Impact was found at the level of personal development; working collaboratively; and understanding the value of audit, teaching and quality improvement. There was some impact on the NHS, however, the majority of Fellows struggled to find opportunities to apply their learning immediately on return from their overseas placement.

Resource and time constraints meant that achievements in meeting Millennium goals were excluded from the evaluation; the authors' working assumption is that only Fellows who enjoyed the Fellowship responded to the invitation to take part; judging the extent to which the Fellowship meets its goal of creating a cadre of improvement champions in the NHS will require time to elapse.

Lessons from implementation of this Fellowship scheme are transferable to the wider NHS.

The paper provides lessons on the design of leadership schemes intended to develop quality improvement skills, particularly for clinicians at an early career stage, illustrates the potential of a placement in a developing country to achieve this, and highlights the importance of a receptive NHS environment to realise maximum benefit from investment in leadership development.

This study aims to document students’ supply chain solutions developed through the internship hackathon program. The study profiled innovative solutions developed by university students in Kenya to solve health supply chain logistics challenges during and beyond COVID-19. This is done by exploring students’ experience in developing sustainable logistics and supply chain management capacity-building programs in a low-middle-income country (LMIC).

This study used a qualitative approach to explore the experiences and perceptions of students and mentors who participated in a hackathon program. The study followed a cross-sectional descriptive survey design, collecting data from the participants through online questionnaires. The data were analyzed and presented using thematic analysis and narrative techniques.

Findings provide preliminary evidence for narrowing the gap between theory and practice through a hackathon internship blended with a mentorship program. Assessment of this program provides evidence for developing solutions toward ensuring the availability of essential medicine in LMICs during a pandemic such as COVID-19 by students. The profiled solutions demonstrate a broader perspective of innovative solutions of university students, mentors and potential opportunities for a triple helix approach to innovation for health supply chain system strengthening.

This original study provides evidence for advancing contribution to developing innovative solutions through partnerships between investors, universities and industry practitioners interested in mentoring students in the health-care supply chain during COVID-19 in LMICs. Specifically, contingency factors that affect the implementation of innovative programs during and beyond global pandemics such as COVID-19 by students’ innovators are identified, and implications for policy action are discussed based on the praxis of sensemaking.

This study examines a novel approach that combines internship, mentorship and hackathon projects for logistics and supply chain students in LMICs. The approach aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice and to create innovative solutions for essential medicines during and after COVID-19. The study urges more resources for supporting such programs, as they benefit both academia and industry. The study also argues that hackathon internship programs can help the logistics and supply chain industry adapt to the post-pandemic era. The study offers insights for investors, universities and practitioners in the health-care industry.

This study shows how to develop innovative solutions for the health-care supply chain during COVID-19 in an LMIC through partnerships between investors, universities and industry practitioners who mentor students. The study identifies the contingency factors that influence the success of such programs during and beyond global pandemics such as COVID-19 and discusses the policy implications based on the sensemaking praxis of the student innovators.