Andrew Olson
Pronouns: He/Him
Research Mentor(s): Ebbin Dotson
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Health Management and Policy / Public Health
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Oral5
Session: Session 5 – 3:40pm – 4:30 pm
Room: Breakout Room 1
Authors: Andrew Olson, Ebbin Dotson
Presenter: 4
Abstract
As our world becomes increasingly globalized, it will be more important than ever to have a global health system that benefits all people. One way that global health is improved is through the use of global health partnerships. These partnerships are collaborations between schools, governments, and businesses in high-income countries with their counterparts in low and middle-income countries. However, there are often health inequities in these partnerships, which hamper development and jeopardize success. To find the main issues associated with global health partnerships, a literature review was conducted to elicit the impact of global health partnership inequities on low and middle-income countries. With this review, four main categories of inequity that affect these partnerships were discovered: Priority selection, resource limitations, capacity development, and knowledge translation. Through these main areas of inequity, we often see partnerships that focus on short-term success and research results instead of focusing on the long-term development of health systems. Priority selection occurs when high-income countries impose their needs over the needs of the low and middle-income countries. Requiring high-income country researchers to spend increased time in their partner country can solve this issue as it helps increase their knowledge of their partners’ needs. Resource limitations cause a financial burden to programs that rely on funding from high-income countries and international bodies. This can be combated by removing stipulations from funds. Capacity development issues stem from high-income countries focusing on short-term solutions to health problems instead of delivering proper training to local health officials and practitioners. Increasing the scope and amount of training programs can increase the capacity of low and middle-income countries’ health systems. Knowledge translation issues derive from a lack of communication between the partners and between different systems within low and middle-income countries. Transparency of information between governmental levels and sectors is paramount for solving this issue. These categories create their own set of challenges, and when present, make it near impossible to create a partnership that is mutually beneficial for all parties.
Public Health
