Global Health Day: “Health problems do not recognize national borders”

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Katja Radon is Chairwoman of the Center for International Health at LMU and academic lead at LMU University Hospital for the European University Alliance for Global Health. In our interview, the LMU professor explains why healthcare today has to be conceptualized in global terms, how her work contributes to peace in the world, and what participants can expect at the second Global Health Day at LMU.

High-quality healthcare is taken for granted in industrialized countries. Why should they not neglect the global perspective?

Katja Radon: The global dimension of health has become crucial, as health problems like pandemics, climate change, and migration do not recognize national borders. Only by engaging in cross-border cooperation and interdisciplinary approaches can we find sustainable solutions for these global challenges. Issues such as mass migration, geopolitical instabilities, and social injustice have direct impacts on people’s health. They lead to healthcare shortages, psychological stress, and the spread of infectious diseases. For evidence, we need only look at the Gaza Strip or Ukraine.

Finding sustainable solutions for local health problems

How is medical care organized in countries with a different infrastructure?

In low- and middle-income countries, healthcare is often restricted due to limited resources, lack of infrastructure, and shortages of healthcare professionals. This makes it more difficult to access medical services. At the Center for International Health (CIH) at LMU, we focus primarily on the education and training of healthcare professionals – from short further training courses, including for supporting personnel such as community health workers, to a PhD program and offerings for post-doctoral students.

What can participants expect at the second Global Health Day at LMU on 24 and 25 April 2025?

A rich and varied program with presentations, discussions, and, most of all, many exciting workshops on current topics such as migration, climate change, global justice, and innovations in global health education and research. The goal is to promote the transfer of scientific findings into socially beneficial solutions. But it’s also a wonderful networking opportunity for colleagues from all faculties who teach and research in the field of global health. Moreover, it enables them to discover the work of scientists at partner universities of the European University Alliance for Global Health (EUGLOH).

You’re the academic lead at LMU for EUGLOH. What does the organization do?

The primary mission of EUGLOH revolves around collective interdisciplinary education in the sphere of global health at nine European universities, covering everything from offerings for bachelor’s degree students, certificate programs alongside the core curriculum, and joint master’s degrees, to the shared supervision of PhD candidates and lifelong learning offers. In the process, the universities offer students and teachers alike the opportunity for exchange throughout the continent of Europe. This could be a brief stay in Porto in the south or Tromsø in the north, or a semester in Paris in the west or Szeged in the east. If you ask me, the European ideal is more important than ever – we need to begin at school, or with young students at the latest, to make European exchange part of everyday life and for young people to be at the heart of it.

The Center for International Health at LMU brings together 14 institutes, clinics, and centers. What was the goal when founding the CIH?

The CIH at LMU University Hospital was founded in 2009 to promote international cooperation in the field of global health. Through the education and further training of research capacities in the partner countries, as well as interdisciplinary cooperation, the idea was to empower the partners to find sustainable solutions for local health problems.

Could you give a specific example?

Let’s take the PhD program in Medical Research – International Health. This is a lighthouse project, which is offered as a sandwich program. Here, the candidates themselves take their research topics with them – as such, they are geared toward local needs. Moreover, the candidates are only at LMU for two three-month spells and then to defend their doctoral thesis – the research periods themselves and the writing of the dissertation take place in their home country. The dissertations are supervised by LMU and local professors. In this way, we ensure that almost all our candidates return to their home countries after obtaining their doctorates – thus preventing a brain drain.

What other work does the organization do beyond the PhD program?

We offer a variety of short programs – from a one- or two-day event like the Global Health Day to the multi-month diploma program at the partner universities. These programs are offered in the local language and are often aimed at occupations such as community health workers, who provide basic healthcare. It’s always important here that the courses are evidence-based and employ up-to-date problem- or competence-oriented methods – regardless of whether delivered in person or online. A highlight of these programs was the online training on infection prevention during the coronavirus pandemic. With this case-based online course, we were able to reach almost 4,000 health professionals in Ecuador – from lab workers to doctors. Thanks to the connections of our alumni in Latin America, this project took place in cooperation with the then health minister of Ecuador – today, a project partner at one of our partner universities in her capacity as professor.

Alumni support global cooperation

Alumni play a key role in your work. How do they support the CIH?

Our alumni network strengthens global cooperation, and several alumni of ours work at universities and in politics. The partner universities carry out joint research projects, and we can allocate resources to support such research thanks to financial assistance from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from funding supplied by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

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Can you convince policymakers with your scientific work?

Many of our alumni are now involved in politics in the partner countries – some in local politics, others at the national level, or in global bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, we’re in regular contact with staff at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, which allows us to directly inform policymakers about our results.

Events like Global Health Day promote direct dialog between science, politics, and society, facilitating the joint development of sustainable and effective strategies. However, there is still room for expansion – and this is something we’ll be addressing in the project phase which has just got underway.

What topics are important to you beyond pure research?

In a nutshell, digitalization and artificial intelligence in teaching and further education and training; the One Health concept; promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion; environmental and climate action measures in projects and teaching; practice-oriented advanced training programs; and close cooperation with non-academic stakeholders such as NGOs and political decisionmakers.

Opportunities for students

You say your work also contributes to peace. How exactly?

Through international cooperation and, in particular, the joint education of young people from various disciplines and countries. An example of this is our Global Health certificate program. This offers students at LMU and all its partner universities the opportunity to collectively get to know various aspects of global health alongside their main studies and to work on solutions in interdisciplinary and international teams. After a kick-off event, which takes place in a hybrid format as part of Global Health Day, the students participate in various events, mainly online, over the course of a year. At the end, they meet up in person again, where possible, to jointly present their final projects.

Friendships are forged in the process, and intensive work in international, interdisciplinary teams shows them what it means to embrace diversity and recognize each other’s perspectives and their relevance for health. Already, we and our partners receive quite a lot of invitations as experts in this field. Our experience in working on equal terms, for example, is also sought after when it comes to evaluating applications.

How can students actively support the work of the CIH?

Students can help through active participation in international research projects, internships, and interdisciplinary courses. They can take part in our certificate program. By engaging with the CIH, they acquire valuable intercultural skills and learn to consider global health problems from different perspectives. Global Health Day offers students an excellent initial opportunity to come into contact with scientists and experts from various disciplines and cultures, deepen their understanding of global challenges, and accumulate practical experience through workshops and discussions.

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