View courses by theme or by week
Primary Care Without Borders: Global Lessons for Local Action听听| June 15-18, 2026听 听听
听
COURSE FORMAT听
Online only. The course will take place from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM (EST) each day from June 15-18, 2026. All content will be recorded and accessible to participants until July 1, 2026.听
Primary health care (PHC) is a cornerstone of health equity, yet sustaining it remains particularly challenging in resource-constrained, disaster-prone, and crisis-affected settings. This four-day online course explores how chronic disease prevention and management can be maintained under pressure through multidisciplinary service delivery models, adaptive health workforces, and meaningful community engagement.听
DESCRIPTION
This four-day online course explores how primary health care systems can sustain chronic disease prevention and management in resource-constrained, disaster-prone, and crisis-affected settings. Beginning with a systems-level overview, participants examine the foundations of primary health care and health equity, and analyze how external crises鈥攕uch as conflict, displacement, climate events, and demographic shifts鈥攊ntersect with workforce shortages, financing constraints, and rising non-communicable disease burdens.
The course then focuses on practical innovations for delivering chronic disease care under pressure, including task shifting, team-based models, digital and hybrid care, and mobile or pop-up primary care services. Through expert panels, case studies, and a World Caf茅 format, participants compare the advantages and limitations of these approaches across diverse contexts.
Subsequent sessions emphasize community-based and culturally safe primary care systems, highlighting community engagement strategies and the critical role of community health workers in supporting continuity of care for marginalized and displaced populations. The course concludes with applied design sessions in which participants translate global lessons into locally relevant action plans, incorporating workforce planning, community partnerships, monitoring mechanisms, and equity considerations.
Throughout the course, interactive discussions, small-group work, and peer feedback support practical learning and reflection, enabling participants to leave with concrete strategies they can adapt and apply in their own professional settings.
COURSE DIRECTORS
听
Associate Professor and Global听Health Program Director
Department of Family Medicine | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
BAIJAYANTA MUKHOPADHYAY,听MA MDCM CCFP DTM&H
Institute of Health Sciences Education
听Department of Family Medicine | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
OBJECTIVES听
- Understand core principles and values of primary health care (PHC) and their role in advancing health equity.
- Analyze how conflict, disasters, displacement, climate events, and system-level pressures affect continuity of chronic disease prevention and care.
- Identify vulnerabilities and opportunities for resilience within primary care systems across diverse crisis and low-resource settings.
- Examine innovative, team-based, and task-shifting approaches to chronic disease management in challenged environments.
- Assess the potential of digital, hybrid, and mobile care models to support chronic disease prevention and management.
- Apply principles of cultural safety, community engagement, and people-centered care in primary care planning.
- Evaluate the role of community health workers and community-based actors in strengthening primary care resilience.
- Design a feasible, contextually appropriate adaptation plan to maintain chronic disease care during crisis conditions.
- Identify concrete, actionable steps to strengthen primary care and chronic disease prevention in participants鈥� own settings.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Designed for clinicians, researchers, practitioners, and students, the course fosters global鈥搇ocal dialogue and applied learning, drawing on real-world experiences from diverse health systems. Participants will examine how primary care can remain resilient, inclusive, and responsive in the face of conflict, displacement, disasters, and systemic constraints.
ENROLMENT
100