Translating Implementation Experiences and Lessons Learned From Polio Eradication Into a Global Health Course: Insights From an International Consortium

Anna Kalbarczyk; Svea Closser; Aditi Rao; Oluwaseun Akinyemi; Humarya Binte Anwar; Eric Mafuta; Piyusha Majumdar; Olakunle O. Alonge

doi:10.9745/GHSP-D-20-00460

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Synthesis and Translation of Research and Innovations From Polio Eradication (STRIPE) Course Development Timeline
MOOC, massive open online course; TAC, technical advisory committee.

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TABLE 1.

Synthesis and Translation of Research and Innovations From Polio Eradication Project Consortium Partner Institutions

Partner Institution and Country

1. Global Innovations Consultancy Services, Afghanistan 2. BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh 3. School of Public Health, University of Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo 4. School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia 5. Indian Institute of Health Management Research University, India 6. Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia 7. College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria 8. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA

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TABLE 2.

Knowledge Domains Included in Global Health Course on Polio Eradication

Global Health Knowledge Domains	Domain Overview^a
1. Global alliances	History of the global polio eradication alliance and its trajectory. Provides strategies for alliance building, focusing on how approaches differ depending on health systems, structures, and political contexts.
2. Policy engagement and influence	Defines policy engagement and its importance in global disease control programs. Explores the importance of process, stakeholders, and contexts in considering policy engagement approaches.
3. Field epidemiology and outbreak response	Explores surveillance as a decision support system for planned as well as outbreak responses.
4. Data for decision making	Explores various data collected through polio eradication activities and how they are interpreted to support program decision making. Considers factors that influence the quality of data.
5. Health communications and behavior change	The role of health communications for behavior change and the key principles in designing communication tools, focusing on how they are adapted and refined across different phases of a program and across contexts.
6. Community engagement	Importance of community engagement in health programs and strategies for engaging communities. Considers its key role in long-term health programming and trust building.
7. Planning and management	Considers key elements of planning and management, including microplanning and monitoring.
8. Health commodities, logistics, and supply	Importance of and best practices in logistics management for public health programs, especially large-scale and multicountry programs.
9. Human resources for health	Considers who polio workers are and the challenges they face in achieving disease control, as well as critical factors to consider in acquiring, training, and deploying appropriate health care workers.
10. Health equity and social justice	Describes social determinants of health and how global disease control programs shape global equity and equality. Considers the impact on hard-to-reach populations.

↵a Materials for all domains can be found here: https://stripe.jhu.edu/learning-hub/global-health-course/.

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TABLE 3.

Global Health Polio Eradication Core Course Themes and Implementation Research Competencies for Each Massive Open Online Course^a

Modules	Course Themes	Implementation Research Competencies
I. Planning and Managing Health Programs: Promoting Quality, Accountability, and Equity
— Planning and management — Health commodities, logistics, and supply — Human resources for health — Health equity and social justice	— Reaching hard-to-reach populations — Importance of politics — Potential and demands of eradication programs	— Understanding the interventions, their mechanisms, and emerging implementation challenges — Building an effective team — Applying ethical principles in conducting implementation research
II. Building Alliances in Global Health: From Global Institutions to Communities
— Global alliances — Policy engagement and influence — Health communications and behavior change — Community engagement	— Importance of context — Relationship between vertical programs and health systems — Power of engagement	— Understanding contexts (health systems, implementing organizations, and communities) — Identifying and engaging relevant stakeholders — Leveraging required resources for conducting implementation research — Communicating and advocating effectively throughout the implementation research process.
III. Collecting and Using Data for Disease Control and Global Health Decision Making
— Field epidemiology and outbreak response — Data for decision making	— Promise and limits of technology — Importance of incentives	— Formulating appropriate implementation research questions — Determining applicable study design and methodology — Conducting research in a robust and rigorous manner — How to use information from implementation research