Traditional engagement for health is mainly carried by doctors and nurses but in many developing countries there are critical shortages of health professionals. They are few and concentrated in cities, and medical and nursing schools cannot keep up with the demand, while emigration – to urban centers and foreign countries – exacerbates the problem. International experience has shown that community health workers, with different degrees of specialized training, can provide essential primary health care services in these underserved localities, and then connect to other health professionals as needed. In most of these successful cases, community health workers are members of the community they serve.
In addition to addressing the shortage of health professionals, these programs aim at building capacities to work under an alternative, home-centered health approach with change behavior as a primary healthcare value, the home a primary health care facility, and mothers as key health providers. Further, now, with multiple online resources readily available, a broad range of support is accessible in the communities and even at home.
The Associate’s degree targets health-related practitioners in communities who are willing to strengthen their abilities to serve. They include community health workers, women’s group facilitators, educators, and the like. The Master’s degree focuses on professionals and experienced practitioners who aim at advisory or supervisory positions in local community health organizations, those willing to engage in capacity building programs for community workers, as well as those interested in strengthening community-government partnerships for health. Options to develop individualized learning plans at both degree levels are diverse, focusing on topics such as nutrition, prevention of chronic diseases, sexually transmitted disease counseling, training and organization of mothers’ groups, etc. There are multiple opportunities of learning plans intercepting with other degree foci.
The University of the World builds on the wide experience of Future Generations and its Graduate College whose health programs focus on scalable innovations that build upon successful community-based primary health models targeting vulnerable populations in different countries such as Afghanistan, China, India, and Peru.