Global Health

At the University of Michigan, nursing practice and global outreach begin on campus and extend around the world. We believe that global health is everywhere, abroad and in communities at home. That’s why U-M School of Nursing faculty members and students engage in outreach through their practice, research and education.

Faculty global engagement 

Clinical practice is an integral component of the U-M School of Nursing’s mission. A significant number of faculty members maintain an active nursing practice. Because of their engagement in this ever-evolving field, they are uniquely situated to help advance the nursing profession through the integration of practice, research and education, and to model expert, innovative nursing care. The practice initiatives page shows the local and global locations where U-M School of Nursing faculty practice.

Maternal health

Dr. Jody Lori, associate dean for global affairs, has conducted research in Liberia and Zambia on Maternity Waiting Homes as a strategy to improve access to facility delivery for women living in rural, remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa.  University of Michigan is a partner with Merck for Mothers in the Maternity Waiting Home Alliance.

Dr. Lori is currently conducting a 5-year, cluster randomized controlled trial funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (R01HD096277) in the Eastern Region of Ghana to test the efficacy of providing group antenatal care.  She is also one of the founding members of the Group Antenatal Care Collaborative. The Collaborative was formed to support an open forum where researchers can learn, share, and build partnerships in this emerging field and inform an active research agenda and prioritization.

Finally, Dr. Lori continues her work in Liberia with a Bill & Melinda Gates Grand Challenge Award to increase access to cesarean section (CS) by decreasing referral time, improving obstetrics triage methods and decision making, and decreasing the Decision-to-Delivery (DDI) time through a WhatsApp triage, referral and transfer (WAT-RT) system in rural Liberia.

Dr. Rob Stephenson and Associate Professor Lynae Darbes, Ph.D, are conducting a R01 funded study in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa that examines the efficacy of a dyadic intervention for creating gains in HIV prevention and care behavior for serodiscordant and seroconcordant positive heterosexual couples.  The work is being funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

The project examines the efficacy of a dyadic intervention for creating gains in HIV prevention and care behavior for serodiscordant and seroconcordant positive heterosexual couples in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Celebrating 25 years as a PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center