Global Health Connections (GHC), Inc. is an educational outreach program that connects students in Colorado with nations throughout the globe to engage in international fellowship and multi-cultural solutions to global health issues.

Objectives:

GHC, Inc. was envisioned to accomplish numerous objectives to teachers, students, parents, volunteers, and the community. These objectives include: 

• International Fellowship. As middle school students are exposed to the world around them, we have an excellent opportunity to capitalize on this by creating international relationships through technology and the Rotary international network of schools, teachers, and community members – ingrained focus of following the Rotary Model.

• Raising Awareness of Global Health Issues. Global health education has been very limited in middle school curricula in Colorado. This situation is not due to lack of interest by teachers and students – global health issues such as HIV, clean water, bio-terrorism, malnourishment, and economic development are in the news almost every day – but due to a lack of teaching resources and course material that would allow for the issues to be addressed in the classroom.

• Local and Global Community-Based Learning. Students are taught in the classroom and assisted by homeroom teachers (a traditional approach), mentored by graduate health students (a non-traditional approach to education), and also interface internationally with their ‘foreign’ peers (another non-traditional approach). For example, Dr. Linda Overholser, a primary care physician at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and Mr. Mike Wiesner, International Director of Development with the Adelante Microfinance group, provided engaging lessons on their chosen topics during the the Global Health Explorers component of GHC, Inc, in the Fall of 2007. Further, students will have the opportunity to work with undergrad, graduate, and doctoral program candidates involved in health organizations and student professional groups through supplemental student and community/industry professionals and volunteers.

• Exposing Students to Work/Volunteer Opportunities. Global health issues need to be approached from numerous disciplines, including but not limited to, international affairs, anthropology, business, environmental sciences, economics, public health and political science. In approaching students at a young age, they become aware of the opportunities they will have to pursue later in life, and even in their careers. Students will gain an appreciation for how these disciplines can interact to provide synergy and out-of-the-box idea generation for potential solutions to key and complex issues. In doing so, they will have the opportunity to meet many of these individuals personally in pursuit of learning about their specific issue and create networking contacts for the possibility of future involvement.