Peace through Health II: A Framework for Medical Student Education

Abstract

The world's first university course in Peace through Health (PtH) recently finished at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada. Medical students and academic staff in Canada and Europe have expressed interest in developing this course for other medical schools. Seven medical students were selected to do an unofficial ‘audit’ in return for ‘in kind’ work, developing the course materials for the web and adaptation to the medical curriculum. This article sets out the goals and structure of the course as a guide for similar teaching models.

Keywords:

• Medical education 
• Peace building 
• ‘Peace through Health’

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Amelie Baillargeon for critical editing of this paper. I would also like to express profound appreciation to Graeme MacQueen and Joanna Santa Barbara for developing education in the discipline and for personal support, to Rob Chase, co-developer of the course, and to Mary Wynne Ashford, Fiona Kouyoumdjian, Andrew Pinto, Anjali Misra and Caecilie Buhmann for their constructive comments.