The Global Learning for Health Equity Network (GLHEN) is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded effort to build a framework that will support the adaptation of health equity interventions from overseas to U.S. settings with a strong focus on community engagement and bidirectional learning. The GLHEN is based at University of Maryland Baltimore with collaborating partners in the Athens Ohio Department of Public Health; the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan; the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Health System in Bronx, New York; and the Navajo Nation in the Four Corners region of the Southwest.  A shared vision, along with mutual goals, and metrics are key components of the GLHEN. A learning systems action model is used that begins with an internal and external scan, and then designs, tests, evaluates and adjusts its framework for research and action.

Key principles for the Global Learning for Health Equity Network

• Cross-sector learning across academic-community partnerships, public health departments, indigenous communities, and health systems
• ​Shared leadership and inquiry allowing for broad learning and the contribution of insights from each community’s experiences with global learning
• ​​Shared activities, evaluation, knowledge building, and dissemination practices to advance the growing field of Global Learning

The holistic vision of global learning values bidirectional learning across countries, between communities, idea originators, and individuals. The development of a collaborative network will empower health equity promoters to examine the value of global options as solutions for pressing health equity issues; understand the concerns of decision-makers and other stakeholders, and overcome barriers to the dissemination and implementation of health equity research. The development of a global learning network is timely, as the need for global ideas to advance health equity has captivated health care professionals, communities, policymakers, and other key stakeholders.