Building Alliances in Global Health: From Global Institutions to Local Communities (FutureLearn)

Using The Global Polio Eradication Initiative as a case study, you’ll address the themes of political advocacy, policymaking, health communications and wider community engagement.

Discuss the value of and best practices for building alliances in global health
You’ll gain an in-depth look at the process of alliance building using The Global Polio Eradication Initiative; an exemplar of global partnerships between UN agencies, the private sector, non-governmental actors, civil society organisations and local communities.
You’ll learn about the wide variety of stakeholders present throughout the policy and planning processes, and will also get an insight into the challenges that can sometimes occur due to resistance, opposition and even hostility.

Apply communication and community engagement strategies to disease control programmes
Using the polio eradication effort as a case study, you’ll address political advocacy and community engagement, and will also explore the politics and interpersonal relations required to build a global health programme.
You’ll also reflect upon the lessons learned from the polio eradication effort.

Study with experts from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
Convening the Synthesis and Translation of Research and Innovations from Polio Eradication (STRIPE) - a project bringing together polio experts from around the world - you’ll be learning from the best minds at the John Hopkins School of Public Health; a leading global institution in healthcare.

What topics will you cover?
• Building global alliances and engaging national governments
• Policy, process, stakeholders, and context for vaccination programs and eradication
• Policy engagement in conflict settings
• Health communications and behavior change
• Community engagement and social mobilization
• Applying lessons from polio eradication to non-polio efforts

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

• Discuss the value of and best practices for building alliances
• Identify and engage a wide variety of stakeholders in the policy and planning processes
• Apply communication and health behavior change strategies to disease eradication programs
• Reflect upon and apply the lessons learned from the polio eradication effort

Who is the course for?
This course is designed for people working or aspiring to work on global infectious disease control programmes.
It is suitable for people working in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), ministries of health, public health agencies, international organisations, healthcare systems, and academic institutions.