Teach to Reach Health workers are sharing how they protected their communities when extreme weather hit

You are not alone: Health workers are sharing how they protected their communities when extreme weather hit

Global health

Today, The Geneva Learning Foundation launched a new set of “Teach to Reach Questions” focused on how health workers protect community health during extreme weather events. This initiative comes at a crucial time, as world leaders at COP29 discuss climate change’s mounting impacts on health. As climate change intensifies extreme weather events worldwide, health workers are often the first to respond when disasters strike their communities. Their experiences – whether facing floods, droughts, heatwaves, or storms – contain vital lessons that could help others prepare for and respond to similar challenges. Read the eyewitness report: From community to planet: Health professionals on the frontlines of climate change, Online. The Geneva Learning Foundation. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10204660 Why ask health workers about extreme weather events? “Traditional surveys often ask for general information or statistics,” explains Charlotte Mbuh of The Geneva Learning Foundation. “Teach to Reach Questions are different. We ask health workers to share specific …

ASTMH 2024 How can we reliably spread evidence-based practices at the speed and scale modern health challenges demand

How can we reliably spread evidence-based practices at the speed and scale modern health challenges demand?

Global health

At a symposium of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual Meeting, I explored how peer learning could help us tackle five critical challenges that limit effectiveness in global health. For epidemiologists working on implementation science, peer learning provides a new path for solving one of global health’s most persistent challenges: how to reliably spread evidence-based practices at the speed and scale modern health challenges demand. The evidence suggests we should view peer learning not just as a training approach, but as a mechanism for viral spread of effective practices through health systems. How do we get to attribution? Of course, an epidemiologist will want to know if and how improved health outcomes can be attributed to peer learning interventions. The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) addresses this fundamental challenge in implementation science – proving attribution – through a three-stage process that combines quantitative indicators with qualitative validation. …

Strengthening primary health care in a changing climate

Strengthening primary health care in a changing climate

and Global health

A new article by Andy Haines, Elizabeth Wambui Kimani-Murage, and Anya Gopfert, “Strengthening primary health care in a changing climate,” outlines how climate change is already impacting health systems worldwide, with primary health care (PHC) workers bearing the immediate burden of response. Haines and colleagues make a compelling case for strengthening primary health care (PHC) as a cornerstone of climate-resilient health systems. First, they note that approximately 90% of essential universal health coverage interventions are delivered through PHC settings, making these facilities and workers the backbone of healthcare delivery. This is particularly significant because PHC systems address many of the health outcomes most affected by climate change, including non-communicable diseases, childhood undernutrition, and common infectious diseases like malaria, diarrheal diseases, and respiratory infections. Furthermore, PHC workers are often the first responders to extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves. They must manage both the immediate health impacts and …

Teach to Reach network of organizational leaders

Teach to Reach’s new leadership network connects health organizations tackling common challenges

Global health

The Geneva Learning Foundation is launching REACH (Relate, Engage, Act, Connect, Help), a new initiative to connect leaders of health organizations who are solving similar problems in different countries. Launching November 6, 2024 REACH responds to an unexpected outcome of Teach to Reach, a peer learning platform that–in less than four years–has already documented over 10,000 local solutions and experiences to health challenges by connecting more than 60,000 participants across 77 countries. When organizations began formally participating in Teach to Reach in June 2024, many leaders discovered they were tackling similar challenges. A digital immunization tracking system in Rwanda sparked interest from several African countries. A community engagement approach to vaccine hesitancy in Nigeria resonated with teams in Kenya and Zimbabwe. These spontaneous connections led to the creation of REACH. What is Teach to Reach? “Teach to Reach is a place where you learn in the most formidable way. You’re …

Meeting of The Geneva Learning Foundation's Scholars and Alumni of Ghana

Making connections: Ghana’s Alumni of The Geneva Learning Foundation meet in Accra

Global health

The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) will host its first physical-world meeting of Ghana Scholars and Alumni on Wednesday, October 30, 2024 in Accra. Seventy-two health professionals from across Ghana’s health system will participate in the evening event. The participants include staff from the Ghana Health Service, teaching hospitals, district health directorates, and non-governmental organizations. They represent all levels of the health system, with 8 working at the national level, 8 at regional facilities, 39 in district health services, and 13 in community-based programs. “This is a great opportunity for all health workers for impact,” says one participant, reflecting the anticipation among attendees. These professionals are alumni of TGLF’s programs, including the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) and Teach to Reach initiatives, which focus on transforming global health strategies into practical, locally-adapted solutions. “TGLF’s learning platforms give us great information and knowledge that are feasible and can be applied in …

The pedagogy of Teach to Reach

What is the pedagogy of Teach to Reach?

Global health, Learning strategy, Theory

In a rural health center in Kenya, a community health worker develops an innovative approach to reaching families who have been hesitant about vaccination. Meanwhile, in a Brazilian city, a nurse has gotten everyone involved – including families and communities – onboard to integrate information about HPV vaccination into cervical cancer screening. These valuable insights might once have remained isolated, their potential impact limited to their immediate contexts. But through Teach to Reach – a peer learning platform, network, and community hosted by The Geneva Learning Foundation – these experiences become part of a larger tapestry of knowledge that transforms how health workers learn and adapt their practices worldwide. Since January 2021, the event series has grown to connect over 21,000 health professionals from more than 70 countries, reaching its tenth edition with 21,398 participants in June 2024. Scale matters, but this level of engagement begs the question: how and why does it …

Teach to Reach 10 Experiences shared

Experiences shared at Teach to Reach 10

Global health

Before, during, and after Teach to Reach on 20-21 June 2024, 21,398 health workers across the Global South—from veteran national managers to newly-trained community health workers—shared their unfiltered, frontline experiences of delivering care in an increasingly complex world. Ahead of Teach to Reach 11, The Geneva Learning Foundation has just released the English-language collection of “Experiences shared“. A second collection of experiences shared by French-speaking participants is also available. This remarkable collection captures over 600 experiences that health workers shared, in their own words, offering rare, ground-level perspectives on how global health challenges manifest in communities. Themes and topics explored in this collection: Through questions that probe specific moments rather than seeking generalizations, these accounts detail personal encounters with everything from climate change’s effects on malaria transmission to the challenges of integrating immunization with other health services. Health workers share candid stories of their successes, failures, and innovations: using WhatsApp …

Teach to Reach 11 briefing for partners

Ahead of Teach to Reach 11, organizational leaders share experience of ‘what works’ for health

Global health

Over 730 organizations have already confirmed their participation in Teach to Reach 11, a peer learning platform, network, and community for health workers facilitated by the Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF). This announcement came during TGLF’s first partnership briefing held on 16 October 2024. Voir la présentation aux partenaires en français… Teach to Reach, which connects health professionals across borders, is expanding its focus on local partnerships for its upcoming 11th edition, scheduled for 5-6 December 2024. Why does this matter? The initiative’s reach is substantial. Teach to Reach 10, held in June 2024, attracted 21,398 participants from over 70 countries. Notably, 80% of participants were from district and facility levels. Each participant is now being encouraged to involve their organization – and to invite staff, volunteers, and community members to join. “I plan to involve women from every province. We made a small committee. So our network is represented“ at …

Why become a Teach to Reach Partner?

Why become a Teach to Reach Partner?

Global health

We need new ways to tackle global health challenges that impact local communities. It is obvious that technology alone is not enough. We need human ingenuity, collaboration, and the ability to share across borders and boundaries. That is why I am excited about Teach to Reach. Imagine if we could tap into the collective intelligence of over 20,000 health professionals working on the front lines in low- and middle-income countries. What insights could we gain? What innovations might we uncover? This is exactly what Teach to Reach is doing. In June 2024, Teach to Reach 10 brought together 21,389 participants from across the health system – from community health workers to national policymakers. This diverse group represents an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience that has often been overlooked in global health decision-making. Bridge the gap between policy and practice One of the most exciting aspects of Teach to Reach …

Brevity’s burden The executive summary trap in global health

Brevity’s burden: The executive summary trap in global health

Global health, Learning strategy

It was James Gleick who noted in his book “Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything” the societal shift towards valuing speed over depth: “We have become a quick-reflexed, multitasking, channel-flipping, fast-forwarding species. We don’t completely understand it, and we’re not altogether happy about it.” In global health, there’s a growing tendency to demand ever-shorter summaries of complex information. “Can you condense this into four pages?” “Is there an executive summary?” These requests, while stemming from real time constraints, reveal fundamental misunderstandings about the nature of knowledge and learning. Worse, they contribute to perpetuating existing global health inequities. Here is why – and a few ideas of what we can do about it. We lose more than time in the race to brevity The push for shortened summaries is understandable on the surface. Some clinical researchers, for example, undeniably face increasing time pressures. Many are swamped due to underlying structural issues, …