Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 358, Issue 9292, 3 November 2001, Pages 1539-1542
The Lancet

Fast track — Viewpoint
Bringing global issues to medical teaching

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(01)06586-2Get rights and content

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Why is it so important?

The emphasis of medical-school curricula tends to be on training doctors to work in their national situations. The importance of learning about the determinants of health is increasingly recognised. The UK General Medical Council, in the 1993 document on medical education, Tomorrow's doctors,2 stated that a priority is understanding “the wide range of cultural, environmental and ethical issues that will increasingly impinge on the problems of health”. In the modern world, with accelerating

Where is this already happening?

In a few medical schools around the world, teaching of global health has already begun. The following are examples from Sweden, the UK, and the Netherlands, based on the authors' experience of working in these countries.

Student response

Most medical students think there should be more teaching on global health issues,17 and in many countries students have been leading the way in calling for global health to be included in their curriculum. In every case, the enthusiasm of students about the introduction of global health courses has far outweighed expectation. In the UK, nearly 100 students contacted the International Health and Medical Education Centre at University College London about the possible International Health BSc

Conclusion

The process of bringing global issues into medical teaching has begun. As curricula are reformed throughout Europe, the addition of global health modules must be seen as a priority. Without it, another generation of doctors will be educated with a narrow, national outlook, unable to recognise the international influences on health, and their political voices will continue to be weak. However, with global health teaching, future doctors will understand the wider aspects of health and appreciate

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