International Health, Education and Learning
“To produce sufficient numbers of skilled workers with technical competencies whose background, language and social attributes make them accessible and able to reach diverse clients and populations”
World Health Report 2006
The International Health and Learning Unit is led by Dr Alison Morgan. The unit is responsible for coordinating the range of subject and course offerings that are designed to meet the needs of those training for or currently working in global health. The WHO estimates that globally there is a shortfall of some 2.4 million health workers. The IHEL Unit is supporting the Nossal Institute’s effort to address this deficit through a range of strategies including
- Delivering a range of formal and informal educational programs that address priority global health areas
- Research into how health and development workers can better apply what they learn, and into what health systems support is required
- Building partnerships with leading public health institutions in Australia and internationally and
- Supporting the professional development of future public health lecturers in emerging schools of public health
There are six domains within the IHEL: four focusing on education and training and two on neglected areas within global health.
Those domains that focus on health workforce development include
- Undergraduate Education and research
- Postgraduate Education and research
- Early career development of Australian IH professionals
- Health Workforce Development within partner countries
The two ‘neglected’ areas include
Put simply, and in the words of the World Health Report (2006) the IHEL unit works towards…
“Getting the right workers with the right skills in the right place at the right time doing the right things”