Global Health Delivery

Despite significant new global health resources, delivering effective interventions to patients who need them remains one of the greatest hurdles facing medicine and public health.

The Global Health Delivery Project (GHD) was established in 2007 by Harvard University Professors Paul E. Farmer and Michael Porter, and Dr. Jim Y. Kim, now President of Dartmouth College.

GHD creates public goods in an effort to generate and disseminate new, interdisciplinary knowledge in the field of global health delivery and to stimulate collaboration among educators, researchers, stakeholders, and implementers. GHD aims to systematize the study of health delivery to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice in global health.

GHD’s core initiative includes: developing case-based curricula and educational programs; conducting interdisciplinary research; and creating and managing web-based “communities of practice” to connect global health professionals worldwide.

1. Education: GHD has developed more than 20 teaching case studies that form the curriculum for a range of health care delivery courses and which are now available at no cost online via Harvard Business School Press (for instructions on accessing the cases, please visit www.ghdonline.org/cases). The GHD case studies have been taught to over 1,000 students at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Harvard Business School, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard College.

The Global Health Effectiveness (GHE) Program is an intensive three-week summer program that provides in-depth learning in value-based health care delivery from renown leaders in the field. Students in the GHE program are required to take three courses at HSPH, each with a different teaching approach. The curriculum features seminar-style lectures and problem sets in epidemiology, global health delivery case study analysis, and the opportunity to hear from experts’ first-hand perspectives and experiences in management science.

Future plans include launching a Faculty Network to cultivate a wider network of global health delivery educators trained in using a case-based curriculum.

2. Interdisciplinary research: GHD’s research explores solutions to the complex biological, social, economic, and political problems involved in health care delivery using mixed methods research techniques. GHD research has explored issues ranging from the impact of global health initiatives on national health systems to how to scale up and sustain HIV prevention programs. Using research findings, GHD has developed applicable, strategic frameworks to guide prospective programs in resource-limited settings in managing the flow of goods, services, and patients in order to maximize value, the patient outcomes per dollar spent.

3. GHDonline.org engages professionals worldwide in discussions about specific health delivery challenges through online communities. GHDonline.org captures knowledge that otherwise would be difficult to uncover or lost by creating a platform for practitioners to connect and engage with each other and share first-hand insight about the paths and impediments to success. GHDonline.org hosts nine public communities, more than 50 private communities, and 5,300 members from 145 countries, representing over 1,700 organizations and institutions.

More than 30 world-renown experts, and partners such as UpToDate, Inc.® provide exclusive content and services to members.