Global Health Gov Pub Service

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This project is aimed to educate, train, and equip students with the resources to fight for the health care rights of all people around the world by representing Georgetown University at the World Health Assembly (WHA). Started by undergraduate students to advance global health education in public service, GHGAPS serves to break down barriers around diplomacy and governance in public health at Georgetown, and create a training program which prepares doctors, nurses, scientists, policymakers, and more to engage in this space for the benefit of others around the world. After giving a basic overview of the political processes and multilateral institutions for global health, this course will transition to focus on leadership preparedness and student collaboration, as the student cohort learns how to strongly exemplify a youth delegation to the WHA. As a result of the past three years, academic and professional institutions around the world are increasingly interested in preventing disease, promoting health, and advancing scientific discoveries to limit the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health emergencies. Humanitarian crises of great complexity and public health emergencies of international concern, among other interdisciplinary issues in these fields, necessitate a multifaceted and cross-collaborative diplomatic response that extends outside traditional medical or political intervention. Youth engagement with the global health diplomacy infrastructure has the capacity to realign health inequities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative will put our university at the forefront for health relief and social justice in the international health setting as we head into one of the most crucial times for international cooperation across the planet and students will be the integral part of this delegation.