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

Abstract

Using international collaborations to develop educational materials presents several challenges but offers enormous benefits in gleaning a wealth of information, perspectives, and context. The global course that resulted from this collaboration mirrors the goals of implementation science more broadly—to bring the findings of research into routine practice to improve health services.

Abstract

Key Findings

• Using international collaborations to develop educational materials is an effective approach to obtaining a wealth of information, perspectives, and context and to facilitating local and global ownership and uptake of the educational materials.

• While these collaborations can involve challenges for curriculum design, content development, and team cohesion, in-person meetings and early recognition of institutional hierarchies can mitigate challenges and enhance team strengths.

Key Implications

• Collaborations should plan for and adjust approaches for hierarchies ahead of time and ensure significant in-person meeting time to make the most of international collaboration.

ABSTRACT

Lessons learned from one global health program can inform responses to challenges faced by other programs. One way to disseminate these lessons is through courses. However, such courses are often delivered by and taught to people based in high-income countries and thus may not present a truly global perspective. The Synthesis and Translation of Research and Innovations from Polio Eradication (STRIPE) is a consortium of 8 institutions in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and the United States that seeks to carry out such a transfer of the lessons learned in polio eradication. This short report describes the collaborative process of developing content and curriculum for an international course, the learnings that emerged, the barriers we faced, and recommendations for future similar efforts. Various parts of our course were developed by teams of researchers from countries across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. We held a series of regional in-person team meetings hosted in different countries to improve rapport and provide a chance to work together in person. The course content reflects the diversity of team members’ knowledge in a variety of contexts. Challenges to this effort included team coordination (e.g., scheduling across time zones); hierarchies across and between countries; and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We recommend planning for these hierarchies ahead of time and ensuring significant in-person meeting time to make the most of international collaboration.