Context, Planning, Delivery, Monitoring and Evaluation. These are the five key principles based on which the NATO Military Global Health Engagement (MGHE) course is constructed.

MGHE is a new course under the auspices of the NATO MILMED COE. The first iteration of the course is being delivered this week in Budapest, Hungary on 24-28 February, thanks to the effective cooperation of the NATO MILMED COE, the Defense Medical Services – Centre for Defence Healthcare Engagement (CDHE) and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) – Centre for Global Health Engagement (CGHE).

Defence Engagement supports NATO’s Collective Defence mission through partner national capability development, mutual understanding, improving interoperability and enabling influence activities. Global Health Engagement uses the healthcare setting for engagement activities and capitalizes on the many advantages healthcare professionals have in this space. NATO’s medics and nurses can often open diplomatic doors and influence where others cannot, and in improving health outcomes directly improve stability.

One of the most important elements of successful Defence Engagement is the collaboration and communication that participants have with each other. During this week, the course participants will learn key concepts and frameworks and share their national perspectives and lessons learned on the topic of military global health engagement. Collaboration, strategic planning, teamwork and critical thinking – the keywords that define the week of the course participants, and that Col Ian Gurney, the Assistant Head for CDHE and Colonel Elizabeth Erickson, the director for CGHE also highlighted in their introduction.