Developing Ethical and Sustainable Global Health Educational Exchanges for Clinical Trainees: Implementation and Lessons Learned from the 30-Year Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) Partnership

Abstract

Background: There is strong interest among healthcare trainees and academic institutions in global health rotations. There are a number of guidelines detailing the ethical principles for equitable and ethical global health rotations and bilateral exchanges, but it is often challenging to know to implement those principles and develop longstanding partnerships.

Objectives: The Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) is a 30-year continuous partnership between a consortium of 12 universities in North America and Moi University in Kenya. The AMPATH bilateral educational exchange has had 1,871 North American and over 400 Kenyan clinical trainees participate to date. The article describes the bilateral exchange of trainees including curriculum, housing, and costs and discusses how each is an application of the principles of ethical global engagement.

Findings: The article takes the experiences of the AMPATH partnership and offers practical strategies for implementing similar partnerships based on previously published ethical principles.

Conclusions: AMPATH provides a model for developing an institutional partnership for a bilateral educational exchange grounded in cultural humility, bidirectional relationships, and longitudinal, sustainable engagement.