Reimagining Global Health Education: 

Better Together in Times of Transformation

We gather in critical and unprecedented times in global health history. As seismic shifts reshape the landscape of international health cooperation—from the restructuring of USAID and PEPFAR to fundamental challenges to our public health institutions and the very foundations of disease prevention—we face a stark choice: retreat into isolation or advance together toward a reimagined future.

This moment of disruption is also our moment of opportunity. The unraveling of traditional power structures in global health demands not mourning, but movement—a bold reimagining that centers the voices, wisdom, and leadership of those who have long been waiting to represent their interests in equal partnerships.

Education is also undergoing change globally. This is the time to reshape Global Health Education. Let’s shape one that does justice to all stakeholders. The symposium offers an excellent opportunity to put our heads together and make plans for sustainable, equitable and accessible global health education.

The Call for Decolonization

For too long, global health has operated under a colonial framework where knowledge flows unidirectionally from North to South. "Capacity building" implies deficiency rather than recognizing existing strengths, and partnership often masks paternalism. The current institutional upheavals—while destabilizing—demolish that framework. And therefore create space for the transformative decolonization of global health that communities worldwide have long demanded.

This is not about dismantling for destruction's sake. It's about reconstructing global health education and practice on foundations of equity, reciprocity, and genuine partnership. It's about recognizing that the expertise needed to address health challenges in Kampala, Mumbai, or São Paulo already exists in these communities—and that sustainable solutions emerge not from external prescriptions but from collaborative innovation.

The Erasmus MC Minor Global Health: 16 Years of Learning, A Future of Co-Creation

At Erasmus MC, our Minor Global Health program stands at its own crossroads after 16 years of operation. We've built bridges, fostered exchanges, and learned invaluable lessons. But we recognize that the path forward cannot be charted from Rotterdam.

Our network of over 50 partner institutes—predominantly in the Global South—represents not beneficiaries of our knowledge, but co-architects of a new global health paradigm. From teaching hospitals in Ghana to community health programs in Bangladesh, from research institutes in Brazil to public health schools in Kenya, each partner brings irreplaceable insights about what works, what doesn't, and what could be.

This conference marks our commitment to fundamentally reimagine global health education and our program. Through genuine co-creation with our international partners instead of incremental adjustments. We're not here to teach; we're here to learn together. We're not here to lead; we're here to follow the wisdom of those closest to the challenges we collectively face.

Better Together: From Crisis to Collaboration

Why "Better Together"? Because disengagement—whether institutional, national, or ideological—has never solved a health crisis. As some nations turn inward and traditional funding mechanisms falter, the imperative for South-South cooperation, innovative financing, and community-led solutions becomes even more urgent.

Better Together means:

• Shared ownership of global health education curricula that reflect diverse worldviews and healing traditions

• Bidirectional learning where students and faculty from Rotterdam spend as much time learning in Nairobi as their counterparts do in the Netherlands

• Distributed leadership where program priorities are set not in European boardrooms but through genuine consensus among all partners

• Resource justice that acknowledges and addresses historical inequities in research funding and academic recognition

The Path Forward

This conference is not merely an academic exercise. As public health institutions face existential threats and decades of progress in disease prevention are at stake, our discussions will shape how the next generation of health leaders responds to these challenges.

We cannot afford to perpetuate systems that concentrate power, knowledge, and resources in the hands of few. The students we educate today—whether in Rotterdam, Dhaka, or Johannesburg—must be equipped not just with clinical skills. They also must be equipped but with the critical consciousness to challenge inequity, the cultural humility to learn from communities, and the collaborative spirit to build bridges where others build walls.

Your Voice, Our Future

Every participant in this room carries a piece of the puzzle we're assembling. Your experiences navigating health system challenges, your innovations born from resource constraints, your vision for what global health could become—these are the raw materials for transformation.

Over the coming days, we won't just share presentations; we'll co-create blueprints. We won't just network; we'll forge alliances. We won't just discuss problems; we'll try to prototype solutions.

The breakdown of traditional global health architecture is not the end—it's the beginning. Together, we will build something better: more just, more effective, and more sustainable. Because in the face of global health challenges that recognize no borders—from pandemic threats to climate-driven disease patterns—our interdependence is not just philosophical; it's existential, wherever you are.

Welcome to this historic convening. Welcome to the reimagining. Welcome to the future of global health education—a future we build Better Together.

Let us begin.