Dear Colleague,

 

We continue to be extremely encouraged by steady progress in our global reform efforts. We're still very much in the dissemination phase, presenting internationally the findings of the Commission Report  Health Professionals for a New Century: Transforming Education to Strengthen Health Systems in an Interdependent World. At the same time, spurred on by the report, national and regional efforts in health education reform are beginning to take shape.

 

The Asian Network is off to a strong start. Its five countries -- Thailand, Vietnam, China, India and Bangladesh -- are committed to exchanging information and research, and promoting health education reform (see news items below). We are beginning to confront some of the challenges in national implementation, which this emerging Asian Network will take on. This includes developing practical guidelines -- checklists, methods, prototypical models -- to help those interested in implementing health education reforms.

 

The "Roadmap to 2013" educational reform initiative at the Harvard School of Public Health is now off and running. We held a faculty retreat on June 8 and 9 and after spirited and fruitful discussion, began setting the initiative's agenda and charting the paths to successful reform (see story below).

 

The report's findings continue in the spotlight at follow-up meetings and conferences across the globe. Recently, the report was unveiled in Lebanon at the American University of Beirut.

Upcoming events are planned in Peru and Brazil, and New York University is hosting an invitational summit on October 13, 2011 called Strengthening 21st Century Global Health Systems: Investing Strategically in the Health Care Workforce.

 

We invite you to follow progress, which is updated weekly on our website at http://www.healthprofessionals21.org. Please forward this to others with interest in a global vision for comprehensive reform in the training of healthcare professionals. 

 

Best regards,

 

 

Julio Frenk, Dean, Harvard School of Public Health and Commission Co-chair 

 

Lincoln Chen, President, China Medical Board and Commission Co-chair