On 29th August 2022, the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Rwanda was awarded the ASPIRE-to-Excellence Award in health professions education from the Association of Medical Education of Europe (AMEE). The new global health sciences university, which started in 2015, is the first university in Africa to receive the highly sought-after award that recognizes and rewards world-class excellence in education. UGHE offers two flagship programs, the Masters in Global Health Delivery (MGHD) which has already graduated seven cohorts and its physician training program which is a dual degree program offered with the MGHD and is now in its fourth year. The ASPIRE Award was given for UGHE’s inspirational approach to education which was encapsulated around a pedagogical approach called ‘placed-based health professions education’. At the heart of this approach is the philosophy that place matters in the educational approach. Professor Abebe Bekele, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic and Research Affairs and founding Dean at UGHE, expressed his pleasure with the ASPIRE recognition and said that the University’s presence in Rwanda and in the remote Butaro community is not by chance but was carefully chosen based on its mission. “Our mission is to strengthen health systems and radically change the way health care is delivered around the world. To achieve this, UGHE is training global health professionals to deliver more equitable, quality health services for all,” said Prof. Abebe. The ASPIRE committee noted that UGHE’s success has been due to leadership, partnership, and engagement, and highlighted UNESCO’s recent recognition of the University as a model for global health education. UGHE’s co-founder and Vice Chancellor, Professor Agnes Binagwaho said the University’s unique training is strongly facilitated by UGHE’s relationship with the community and the national health system of Rwanda among many other strategic partnerships. “The fight for global health equity requires us to educate how to provide holistic services for all, across the continuum of care and delivered to where the people live. This cannot be achieved without collaboration and partnership with all stakeholders because each and every sector from the community to the national level is concerned and needs to work collectively to address the social determinants of health,” said Prof. Agnes. “This award can be taken as a validation of the founders’ inspirational vision for UGHE and a testimony to the hard work carried out by the UGHE family in implementing this vision” she added. UGHE is an initiative of Partners In Health and its founder and Chancellor, the late Dr. Paul Farmer, who passed away in February 2022 was known for his advocacy for global health equity. As an anthropologist, Dr. Farmer felt strongly that place mattered and was instrumental in UGHE setting up its campus in Rwanda and Butaro to be able to work closely with the community to address health inequity. The ASPIRE Award has opened the door for UGHE to become a member of the ASPIRE Academy which consists of schools across the world who have achieved this mark of excellence. The Academy promotes excellence in education through collaboration and dissemination of best practices. Prof. Agnes stressed that while UGHE has achieved this mark of excellence in its early days, the University is still on a path of development with many programs and initiatives in the pipeline.
