We are a global community of institutions and individuals committed to Social Accountability. That means we collaborate with communities and cross-sector partners to strengthen health systems and prepare a workforce to meet evolving needs.
Our members share strategies and principles to enhance the equity and quality of care. We build on successful strategies and practical experiences across diverse contexts, continuously improving through collaboration and reflection.
We apply these shared approaches to advise governments, agencies, and institutions on how to align policies and institutional and educational practices with community health and social needs to build more equitable and resilient health systems.
The Ateneo de Zamboanga School of Medicine in the Philippines was the first medical school serving the rural communities in Mindanao. Central to its approach is community-engaged learning. Each year of their training, students engage directly with underserved communities— spending substantial time understanding and addressing local health challenges.
At James Cook University College of Medicine and Dentistry in Australia, students participate in facilitated “Community Meetings” where they learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities about health priorities, systemic barriers, lived experience, respectful communication and shared action to address inequities in Indigenous health.
The University of the Philippines Manila, School of Health Sciences in Leyte, designed an education program that meets the needs of communities in their region. Its former Dean Jusie-Lydia Siega-Sur explains how it was designed and its key components to members of the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education at the National Academies Health and Medicine.
Northern Ontario School of Medicine University is successfully building a workforce in Canada’s most remote communities. Its innovative socially accountable program was developed in collaboration with rural, francophone and indigenous communities and other stakeholders and is producing doctors ready and willing to work in rural areas.
At the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Gezira in Sudan, medical students learn about and conduct a host of public health activities in rural communities that often have limited access to care and are faced with a range of social determinants that negatively affect their health. This short documentary describes such a rotation from a student perspective.
Education, research, and services are designed to meet the health and social needs of all, including underserved communities.
The curriculum integrates basic, clinical, population, and social sciences, including the social determinants of health.
Programs emphasize a commitment to public service, with faculty members serving as role models.
Teaching methods are learner-centered and service-based, emphasizing interprofessional teamwork, community-engagement and benefiting from information technology.
A significant part of learning takes place in primary care settings.
Learners are selected to increase the chances they will work where they are needed, thus including learners from underserved and marginalized communities.
Social Accountability is evident in all departments, sustained community engagement, and committed leadership.
Schools recruit and train community- based practitioners as teachers and mentors.
Programs are located in or near the communities they serve.
Charlie Labarda, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine and Dean of the School of Health Sciences at the University of the Philippines Manila (UPM-SHS), where he has taught for more than a decade. He is a regular member of the National research Council of the Philippines, belonging to the Medical Sciences Division (Division III). Before joining the medical faculty at UPM-SHS he trained in at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Philippine General Hospital. He finished his PhD in the Department of Psychology at The University of Hong Kong, his Master in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management (high honors), Doctor of Medicine (cum laude) at the Our Lady of Fatima University-College of Medicine, and his undergraduate Social Sciences studies (cum laude) at UP Tacloban College. He was a topnotcher in the Physician Licensure Examination (8th place).
He served as the Unit Faculty Representative to the All UP Academic Employees Union-Manila Chapter. He is also part of the UPM-SHS core faculty for the Leadership and Development Program (LDP) capacitating local chief executives (governors and mayors) in strengthening their health systems to achieve the goals of universal health care and sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the Philippine government. He also volunteers as civil society partner of DSWD in its 4Ps Program as Vice-Chairperson for the National Independent Monitoring Committee (NIMC). He also helps in various DOH and WHO projects in line with his advocacies around medical education, health equity, disaster public health, resilient and healthy communities, and mental health especially in low resource settings. Recently he became part of the Data Science for Public Policy Working Group based at the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP-CIDS), promoting the use of data science for public policy.
Dr. Dharamsi currently serves as the Dean of the College of Public Health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. With 25 years of experience, he brings an interdisciplinary background and extensive international and community development experience as an educator, scholar, and administrator.
Dr. Dharamsi’s academic journey began in Canada, where he earned an interdisciplinary PhD from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and achieved tenure in the Department of Family Medicine. He also co-directed the UBC Center for International Health.
His work is at the intersection of public health, medical humanities, global health, ethics, and the social determinants of health.
Born in Tanzania, Dr. Dharamsi is a first-generation high school and college graduate. He is deeply committed to student success. He began his career as an inner-city schoolteacher.
His career includes leadership roles as regional director for early childhood development and poverty alleviation in East Africa with the Aga Khan Development Network, founding associate dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso, and senior advisor to the provost at New Mexico State University.
Dedicated to advancing public health, Dr. Dharamsi actively serves on the boards of several national and international organizations, including the ASPPH Global Engagement and Partnerships Advisory Committee.
