Students publish analysis of broad range of proposals to improve global health governance

March 30, 2011 - Students studying global health decision-making at McMaster University have released a publication that represents the first-ever comprehensive assessment of a broad range of potential global health governance reforms.

Student Voices 2: Assessing Proposals for Global Health Governance, provides evidence-based assessments of 13 previously suggested reforms to address the way that global health efforts are coordinated, financed and prioritized. Nineteen students taking courses offered by the Bachelor of Health Sciences Program in collaboration with the McMaster Health Forum contributed to the content.

The report was officially launched at a public event entitled A Celebration of Student Contributions to Global Health on March 30 in the Forum’s DialogueSpace.

With calls growing louder to develop creative and innovative approaches to global health decision-making and the allocation of limited resources, Student Voices 2 offers reviews of available research and a broad range of insights into existing proposals put forward by scholars, organizations and others with expertise in global health issues. The publication exemplifies how students with a keen interest in global health decision-making are demonstrating their desire and ability to make an impact. 

The publication was edited by Steven Hoffman, an adjunct faculty member with the Forum who teaches courses on global health advocacy and global health governance. In his introduction, Hoffman writes: “In publishing this report, it is our belief that today’s students have an important role to play in global health decision-making for both their innovative ideas and future leadership of the global health community.”

Student Voices 2 was also distributed on March 31 through the Equidad listserv of the Pan American Health Organization, bringing it to the attention of nearly 25,000 global health leaders in numerous countries. 

This is the second student publication overseen by Hoffman. Student Voices 1: Advocating for Global Health through Evidence, Insight and Action, was produced by students who took his global health advocacy course in winter 2010. Copies of that report and information about how it was compiled were also highlighted at the celebration event.

The event also focused attention on the international student internships facilitated by the McMaster Health Forum. To date, seven students have completed internships at WHO headquarters or regional offices, and five more will be completing internships this summer. Jenny Edge, one of the students who will be an intern this summer in the Department of Human Resources for Health at WHO's Geneva headquarters, spoke at the event about how studying global health through the courses offered by the Forum and the Bachelor of Health Sciences Program have enhanced her efforts to pursue research that can make a difference at the international level. She will be helping WHO evaluate the impact of its Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, which builds on her thesis work that involves the empirical evaluation of the code's influence on the behaviour of national and sub-national actors in five high-income countries.