The Global Learning for Health Equity Network (GL4HEN) is based at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) as a collaboration between the University of Maryland School of Nursing and the UMB Center for Global Engagement.

Global Learning for Health Equity Network Convening

Friday, June 6, 2025, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
UMB Southern Management Corporation Campus Center, 2^nd Floor
621 W. Lombard St., Baltimore, MD 21201

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There is no registration fee. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

About the Convening

The GL4HEN was launched in August 2020 with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Over the past three years, the network has developed a framework for global learning, also known as reciprocal innovation and bidirectional learning, and has supported seven grantees on their journeys to adapt and apply global innovations to local challenges.

The purpose of the convening is to bring together global learning leaders, program designers, implementers, and funders to reflect on the lessons learned and to chart the future of global learning for health equity collaboratively. More about the network can be found in published articles in the Annals of Global Health, Community Health Equity Research & Policy, and Global Public Health. Attendees may be invited to participate in manuscripts for a supplement in the Annals of Global Health.

Why does global learning for health equity matter?

The United States continues to lag behind other high-income countries on significant health indicators, including infant mortality, chronic disease, and overall mortality, largely due to health and health care inequities. Interventions designed to eliminate health inequities in other countries may also work in communities in the United States. The GL4HEN is an effort to build a framework that will advance the adaptation of health equity interventions from overseas to U.S. settings with a strong focus on community engagement and bidirectional learning.

Spotlight on Grantee Projects

Global learning is the practice of adopting international ideas to address local challenges. In 2023, the GL4HEN funded 7 organizations that have leveraged global learning to tackle diverse health equity challenges, including adolescent health, aging-friendly communities, trauma-informed care, and racial healing. A few highlights include:

• Montana State University (Partner: Kenya) – Addressing adolescent sexual and reproductive health disparities by adapting successful Kenyan community-based health initiatives to rural Montana
• Corner Health Center (Partner: India) – Implementing the “4 Pillars Model” to empower women through health care, education, and employment support, inspired by a community-based model from Himachal Pradesh, India
• The Cambodian Family (Partner: Cambodia) – Developing culturally sensitive mental health interventions for Cambodian and Southeast Asian immigrant communities in California, incorporating indigenous healing practices
• The Hood Exchange (Partner: Ghana) – Using immersive cohort-based experiences to foster racial healing and dismantle systemic inequities in Black communities
• University of Maryland School of Nursing (Partner: Tanzania) – Creating a bidirectional learning model to enhance community-based palliative care services in both Baltimore and Tanzania