Global Health for Undergraduates: “We Are Not Alone”

This paper presents a review of an undergraduate global health curriculum implemented at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. It is in concert with the framework and principles of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and their vision of Shared Futures of Global Learning and Social Responsibility. The rationale for a deep and broad undergraduate public health curriculum, which includes a global health component, is clear. Global health is a necessary and timely pathway for undergraduate liberal arts education. The world has dramatically changed in the past 50 years, and undergraduate education must continue to keep pace with these changes. Pathogens will adapt to changing ecologies, demographics, disease burdens, and population distributions. They are able to cross the world in hours or days. No country is invulnerable to disease importation and consequent indigenous transmission. Broad epidemic preparedness is required across all academic disciplines from epidemiology to sociology, from medicine to economics.Global health is anchored in the complementary application of various disciplines effectively joined to address a particular problem and mitigate potential adverse consequences. Our students recognize the reality of this interconnected world and are eager to take their place as global citizens. Knowledge, understanding, technical acumen, and humility represent the foundation of the global citizenry required to address the changing global pattern of disease worldwide. Undergraduate public health, and particularly undergraduate global health, will enable our undergraduates to embark on a myriad of professional trajectories that include public health, medicine, biomedical research, law, policy, environmental studies, anthropology, economics, sociology and other disciplines. The “Y” Generation in the U.S. (individuals born between 1980 and 2000) is poised for action; we must give them the tools to succeed.