The goal o
f our Global Community Health Track is to improve global and local health equity by empowering the communities with whom we partner while training future global health leaders in the principles of sustainable global health.
Core values for Global Community Health Partnerships:
UIC is a Center of Excellence in global health dedicated to accountability and critical thinking. We, as a community of global citizens, adhere to the principle of health as a human right. We also believe that health service capacity is a community right necessary to meet the needs of its own members. The University’s Global Community Health Partnerships, in their various forms, foster access to primary health care services through sustainable community health systems strengthening. These partnerships strive to improve social determinants of health through community-centered approaches. Our partnership initiatives address the full spectrum of health services translation within a broad array of health issues from discovery to innovation within health care delivery, policy, and beyond. We adhere to a strict code of conduct upholding the highest ethical standards within these partnerships.
Trainee Competencies:
Responding to the goal and values of the Global Community Health Track at the UIC Center for Global Health, trainees will achieve competency within four overarching themes:
- People and Community Centeredness – Empower people and their communities by effectively utilizing participatory approaches and leveraging existing assets through longitudinal partnerships, with primary consideration of community priorities and values in identifying and addressing locally appropriate solutions to health disparities;
- Health Equity – Identify and respond to the social determinants of health such as socio-economic factors and political factors as well as specific cultural mores when developing health services and clinical care interventions in order to improve the community health status while responsibly, ethically, and humbly fulfilling one’s role within a global community health education partnership;
- Primary Health Care Services Access – Organize and effectively collaborate with a multi-level and interdisciplinary team (e.g. community leaders, allied health personnel, policy experts, and medical providers) to improve access, coverage, quality, and safety of primary health care services to address health disparities at the local community level; and
- Community Health Systems Strengthening – Advocate for the health of patients, families, and communities within structured community health systems and in collaboration with governmental (Ministry of Health), nongovernmental, and private organizations, when appropriate. The goal of this advocacy should be sustainable health systems strengthening through workforce capacity building, continuous quality improvement, and evaluation activities for the overall project as well as for each partner within all partnership efforts.
