Enrollment in Global-Health Courses Doubled Over Past 3 Years, Survey Finds

Enrollment in global-health courses at 37 colleges and universities has more than doubled over the past three years, according to the results of a survey released Monday by a global-health consortium.

In 2009, 5,012 students were enrolled in global-health courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, up from 2,393 students in 2006.

Several global-health programs have also sprung up in recent years, according to the survey results. Only 18 of the 37 institutions surveyed had such programs in 2006. Public health, a related field, was identified in a recent Chronicle report as one of five college majors “on the rise.”

The source of the survey, the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, surveyed 37 of its member colleges and universities in July with funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.

On Monday the presidents of five universities—Boston, Duke, Emory, and Johns Hopkins Universities, and the University of Washington—will meet at the National Institutes of Health to discuss efforts to improve health care in developing countries.