GHLI Programs
GHLI incorporates a diverse set of complementary programs designed to support and foster leadership in health with country partners and at Yale.
Leadership Development
The GHLI serves as a venue to bring together key players in global health including international organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and global health practitioners to inspire leadership, foster innovation and debate critical global health issues. GHLI also engages students at Yale, fostering the development of the future leaders in global health. Current programs include:
GHLI Strategic Problem Solving Conference
The centerpiece of GHLI, the conference provides country delegations with an opportunity to apply novel tools of strategic problem solving to their national health priorities. Through classroom learning sessions from Yale faculty, distinguished experts and facilitated work sessions, the conference builds leadership capacity and serves as a launching point for delegations to implement focused efforts to strengthen their health systems.
During the conference, delegates are exposed to prominent leaders in global health and practical education in grand strategy, a paradigm for accomplishing transformative objectives with limited resources. The conference also offers education in leadership development, drawing on delegates’ experiences working in global health. Topics included intergroup relations, leadership and follwership and the role of paradox in healthy organizations and productive groups. Finally, delegates are also exposed to scientific problem solving – a rigorous and systematic approach to addressing complex and multifaceted problems in practical ways.
By the end of the conference, delegations identify strategies for strengthening particular aspects of their health systems closely tied to improving access and quality of care. The conference also creates and supports a community of learners who recognize the shared nature of their health challenges and are committed to learning from each other through the continued dissemination of novel approaches and lessons learned.
Strategic Thinking in Global Health
In spring 2010, the GHLI will launch an innovative program to prepare Yale students for leadership positions focused on improving health and health care around the world. Inspired by the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale, the program will consist of a spring seminar focused on didactic learning, a summer internship for relevant experiential learning, and a subsequent seminar focused on students’ integration of these experiences applied to selected topics in global health. The course sequence will be co-taught by faculty with extensive academic and practitioner experience. Leaders in global health will be invited as guest speakers.
Leaders in Global Health Speaker Series
The Leaders in Global Health Speaker Series is a venue for Yale students and the community to learn from innovative leaders committed to global health. Coming from diverse and multidisciplinary backgrounds, invited speakers expose students to examples of successful leadership in a variety of contexts including research, policy, implementation, advocacy and other settings. Students are encouraged to engage with invited speakers during group mentoring sessions and Master’s Teas, further complimenting their global health studies and opening up a range of future career prospects.
Health Systems Research and Implementation
Through applied training and research programs, Yale supports countries in their efforts to systematically evaluate and improve organizational performance and health outcomes. While each country program is unique, there are several key components that define the GHLI approach:
- GHLI’s primary focus is the development and support of sustained quality improvement collaborations designed to promote effective leadership capacity and efficient management systems at the health facility level.
- In partnership with universities overseas, GHLI coordinates tailored professional development programs for health sector managers, clinicians, and other leaders. These programs develop critical leadership and management skills through certificate programs, workshops and web-based learning.
- Through applied health systems research, GHLI identifies effective interventions to improve health and the quality of health care delivery. GHLI research seeks to generate a sound understanding of “what works” and how to effectively spread innovation and best practice. In addition, GHLI research contributes to the evidence base that links management and leadership development to improved health outcomes.
- GHLI research also focuses on identifying the essential components of leadership, how they emerge in different settings and how they lead to flexible, efficient and effective health systems. The findings from this research both inform and are informed by other GHLI program areas.
GHLI in China
As part of the Goldman-Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative, GHLI is partnering with Tsinghua University in China to train a cadre of women in healthcare management and leadership. China is undergoing rapid reform of their healthcare system and the Yale-Tsinghua program is designed to prepare health facilities to navigate that change. The Yale-Tsinghua Certificate Program in Healthcare Management will empower middle and senior-level managers from across the health delivery system, with a focus on rural and underserved urban hospitals. The program will also have a particular emphasis on women who would not otherwise be able to access management training. The program combines didactic training and applied fieldwork for maximum impact.
GHLI in Egypt
Yale has joined together with the National Bank of Egypt to develop a comprehensive strategic plan to strengthen the country’s health delivery system through a focus on cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Egypt and around the world. The program will catalyze improvement at partnering hospitals by promoting the development of key management systems and implementing a Registry for Acute Coronary Syndrome as drivers for quality improvement in clinical care delivery. Partnering hospitals will serve as demonstration sites for a new model of health service delivery across the country.
GHLI in Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Hospital Management Initiative (EHMI) is a partnership between the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI), the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and Yale aimed at establishing health management as a profession in Ethiopia. As part of this initiative, a cadre of Yale-Clinton Foundation Fellows served as on-site mentors to hospital management teams in selected hospitals, piloting a series of locally-appropriate management tools and systems that culminated in the development of the Blueprint for Hospital Management. The Blueprint serves as a tool to establish and achieve a set of standards for hospital management.
As part of EHMI, Yale has helped to launch the first Master of Hospital Administration (MHA) degree program in Ethiopia and Africa as a whole. Housed within Jimma University, the two-year executive development program is producing a network of capable and qualified CEOs committed to improving hospital quality in Ethiopia.
GHLI is also serving as the external evaluator to the Ethiopian Millennium Rural Initiative (EMRI). Sponsored by CHAI and in partnership with the Ministry of Health, EMRI provides support to 50 rural Primary Health Care Units (PHCUs) over a period of three years. Each PHCU is comprised of one health center and five satellite health posts to serve 25,000 people. EMRI will provide financial, technical, equipment, and other support to the PHCUs, with the goal of enhancing accessibility, utilization and quality of health services and, ultimately, improving health outcomes in the target communities.
GHLI in Liberia
GHLI partnered with CHAI and the Mother Patern College of Health Sciences/Stella Maris Polytechnic in Monrovia, Liberia to establish a management course that provides health care professionals from hospitals, local organizations and country health teams with practical leadership skills and problem-solving tools needed to effectively manage health systems. The collaborative nature of the course facilitates the development of a community of learners who can work together to effectively implement the Liberian National Health Plan.
Yale-Clinton Foundation Fellows served as on-site mentors to hospital management teams in selected hospitals, strengthening leadership capacity, building management systems, and promoting tangible improvements in the quality of care. One partnering site implemented infection control guidelines and standardized preoperative practices to reduce post-surgical complications from 38% to 10% in less than 6 months. This in-hospital work culminated in the development of the Health Management Toolkit, a series of practical tools and templates for health facility managers across the country.
GHLI in South Africa
The Advanced Health Management Program combines distance learning and intensive workshops to provide health care managers working in HIV/AIDS with critical management skills. The year-long program offered in South Africa’s nine provinces serves 300 participants each year. Many graduates of the program have advanced to senior positions in their organizations, while others have found significant outside funding to sustain and spread the projects they first designed and completed as course assignments.
GHLI in the UK
In 2007, Yale and the UK-based South Essex Partnership National Health Service Foundation Trust forged a partnership to create and deliver the Professional Development Program in International Healthcare Management. The program is designed to equip health care managers with the management tools needed to succeed in the new financial and operational framework of the National Health Service.
