Outreach Programs

High School Global Health Day

The annual High School Global Health Day brings students from mostly rural Wisconsin high schools to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to learn about the many determinants of health and disease.

From 2013 through 2017, 144 students and their teachers from 28 Wisconsin high schools participated in the program.

GHI has collaborated with the Wisconsin South Central Area Health Education Center to plan and implement the day introducing high school students to global health and the university. The program provides students with a better understanding of how social circumstances and environmental resources influence health, and helps them understand how they can make a difference in Wisconsin and across the world as global citizens and future global health practitioners. (For updates on this year’s program, contact globalhealth@ghi.wisc.edu.)

Three undergraduate global health student organizations, GlobeMed, Med Life, and Partners in Health ENGAGE, have helped with the event.

Read more:

Rural Wisconsin high school students explore global health and becoming world citizens

High school students explore global health

Introducing rural students to global opportunities

Quality Improvement Leadership Institute

Reducing infant mortality, improving breast cancer detection, empowering girls and managing medical equipment are among the challenges medical and public health leaders address at the annual Quality Improvement (QI) Leadership Institute hosted by the Global Health Institute (GHI) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During the week-long institute, participants from around the world and low-resource settings in Wisconsin work with UW faculty, staff, students, and each other, learning the basics of strengthening health care systems through measurable steps.

A culture of quality is key, says Lori DiPrete Brown, GHI associate director for education and engagement and director of the QI Leadership Institute.

  • Participants learn to tackle complex problems by understanding the root causes of those challenges and developing specific steps to make change.
  • They learn how to lead in a way that moves people from thinking “I’m not sure quality care is possible with the constraints I face” to “I’m part of a team and we can do this.”

For more information about QI opportunities, contact globalhealth@ghi.wisc.edu.

Leadership for change

The QI Leadership Institute at the UW-Madison challenges participants to learn that they are and can be leaders, encouraging collaboration and conveying the hope that change is achievable.

“If people think quality is possible, it gets done,” DiPrete Brown says. “The question is, ‘Can people trust you?’ If they think they have a relationship with you and they can come to you, a lot more is possible.”

The QI Leadership Institute brings wisdom and challenges from across Wisconsin and the world together, providing a creative and innovative space for participants to learn from each other and form networks. The institute changes the participants’ paradigm from scarcity to assets, helping them recognize how much they accomplish and how to use QI tools to foster better health and well-being for those they serve.

A tradition of excellence

In partnership with the School of Medicine and Public Health and the UW Medical Foundation, DiPrete Brown, a QI pioneer, brings together experts from UW-Madison’s health sciences to share best practices.

QI principles have helped participants improve health outcomes worldwide. In Ethiopia, compliance with infection control protocols at Black Lion Hospital almost tripled with QI training. Neonatal deaths in Debre Behran Hospital dropped dramatically as QI methods identified new ways to keep babies warm.

Kidest Hailu, AIHA country director for Ethiopia, attended the institute after watching several of AIHA’s partners make significant changes through QI.

“(The QI Institute) motivated me to be part of it, to be able to advocate for more small projects, to walk the walk and talk the talk.” —Kidest Hailu, AIHA country director, Ethiopia

Learn more:

Quality is Possible Here

QI Institute brings together world health leaders to work on everyday challenges

Zero TB for Tibetan Kids