Innovations in global health professional education: Implications for urbanization

Abstract

A book on innovations in healthcare and its implications for urbanization would be incomplete without a discussion of innovations in healthcare’s most critical component: its workers. There is a need for interventions that specifically target the new urban slums and in particular for training for a cadre of healthcare providers who can meet this emerging healthcare need. In this chapter, we provide a narrative history of medical, nursing, and public health education from the 1900s to today. Some key “seeds of innovation” from around the world will be highlighted as examples of regional best practices in health professional education, specifically as it pertains to issues in urbanization. In the second section of this chapter, we emphasize that even though there have been significant reforms, there are still ongoing problems and challenges, particularly relating to the mission of health professional education and urban populations. We propose five key directions for health professional innovations into the twenty-first century and beyond.