Be a Catalyst for Global Health Innovation!
Belmont’s Global Health Initiative, led by Dr. Shelby Garner, supports Belmont’s goal of radically championing life abundant for all people by establishing partnerships internationally that support human flourishing in communities around the world. Currently, Dr. Garner and her team are working on healthcare projects in a variety of countries including India and Indonesia, among others.
Projects
USAID & FCDO CO-CREATE (Collaborative Opportunities for Climate Resilience, Empowerment and Transformation through Education)
CO-CREATE is the first activity under USAID and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO)’s Climate Action Partnership for Education (CAPE). In collaboration with the Tanzania Ministry of Education and the Tanzania Institute of Education, CO-CREATE is partnering with local climate and education champions to generate new ideas and evidence to advance climate action, improve education outcomes, and promote gender equality at local, national, and global levels. This $2 million project, implemented by the Aga Khan Foundation in partnership with Belmont University, Creative Action Institute, and Restless Development, runs from October 2023 to September 2025.
Fall 2024 Update: The Belmont team returned from Tanzania where they advanced key components of the project, which included conducting a United Nations-supported workshop using a disaster risk reduction scorecard to evaluate and strengthen Tanzania's education system resilience.
Global Health Initiative’s Mission in Ukraine
Belmont University’s Global Health Initiative team visited Lviv, Ukraine, to enhance rehabilitation services amidst the ongoing conflict. Led by Dr. Shelby Garner and Dr. Ben Ryan, the team conducted workshops and simulations to improve accessibility, retrofit homes, and bolster trauma care. They collaborated with local medical institutions, donated simulation equipment, and provided crucial training. Their efforts aimed to create sustainable health care improvements and support mental health needs, establishing long-term partnerships to aid Ukraine’s recovery.
Bangalore Baptist Hospital Project
The Global Health Initiative partnered with Bangalore Baptist Hospital to save lives at birth in India, the country identified by the World Health Organization as having the poorest inequity score for newborn health interventions among all countries in Southeast Asia. While infant mortality has improved in India over the last two decades, it still leads the world in the number of newborn deaths each other. Thanks to a grant from the Laerdal Foundation, Garner and her team are working to provide novel cultural response curricula incorporating best practices in labor and delivery, newborn assessment, essential newborn care and life-saving measures. Project investigators from Belmont and Bangalore Baptist Hospitals’ institute of Nursing will design, implement and research innovative teaching and learning strategies in simulation, mobile health, virtual reality simulation and e-learning to combat this health disparity.
Belmont and Bangalore Baptist Hospital will also partner with INACSL’s first Regional Interest Group in India to analyze outcomes from the project.
About the Director
Shelby Garner
Email: shelby.garner@belmont.edu
Office Location: Inman Center 406
