Global Health Ethics Course
Global Health Ethics (GHSR 6725) is an on-campus course taught by Dr. Shailey Prasad, director of CGHSR, which examines the current state of global health and the ethical frameworks that need to be considered in global health engagements.
Using a seminar-based model, this course explores various ethical frameworks including development ethics, public health ethics, religion and ethics, and biomedical ethics. Students engage in discussions on ethical issues in global health engagements, pandemics, disasters, and global aid, and apply their understanding of ethical frameworks to case-based analysis.
Fall 2023 registration is now open. More information on eligibility and requirements is available on the Global Health Ethics page.
Cultural Safety Considerations in Indigenous Maternal Mental Health Services
UMN CGHSR Women's Health Equity & Empowerment Series
with special guest Zuoa Vang, PhD; moderated by Mary J. Owen, MD, Tlingit
Cultural safety, a framework developed in New Zealand to address power inequities in healthcare that harm the health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples, has been adopted in other settler societies, including Canada. The implementation of cultural safety, however, tends to focus narrowly on reducing healthcare providers’ implicit biases, attitudes and behaviors. This individual-level emphasis on healthcare providers, while important, is insufficient to address Indigenous-settler health inequities because it can obscure important structural biases—including formal policies and informal practices—that are built into the existing healthcare system. Drawing on fieldwork with Indigenous women and mothers in two northern and remote communities in Quebec, Canada, Dr. Vang examines Indigenous women’s experiences with perinatal depression and access to mental health services. The results reveal multiple barriers to mental health service use in northern and remote communities, including mental health protocols that are perceived as punitive and the close coupling of child protection services and mental health services which acts as a strong deterrent to help-seeking. WATCH NOW
HEAL Initiative Global Health Fellowships Info Session
with Joseph Scarpelli, Program Director
The HEAL fellowship aims to train and transform healthcare professionals from around the world to provide care for the resource-denied while becoming part of the global movement for health equity. This info session offers more information about the program. WATCH NOW
Trusted Messenger
PBS Documentary
As 2021 unfolds, the world still grapples with COVID-19 and herd immunity eludes us, with vaccine skepticism posing an ongoing obstacle. During the early months of the vaccination effort and rollout, filmmaker Chris Newberry and his crew followed a diverse ensemble of dedicated health care professionals working in communities of color across Minnesota. These health care professionals share their struggles as they witness the devastation of COVID while empathetically wrestling to understand and respond to unprecedented vaccine skepticism. As they work to gain trust one person at a time, they selflessly put their own physical and mental well-being at risk. The resulting documentary is a tribute to the doctors, nurses, organizers and influencers who are embracing community-led efforts to bring the pandemic under control. WATCH NOW
