Transdisciplinary Teaching in Global Health: Experiences from the Global Health Spring School Dresden

Abstract Background The complexity of global health challenges requires transdisciplinary solutions. To build global health competencies across disciplines, the Global Health Initiative Spring School (GHISS) was launched in 2023 at Dresden University and has since been conducted annually. Primary health care, with its holistic focus, serves as a framework for global health teaching, providing a model adaptable to diverse educational settings. Objectives GHISS aims to: (1) deepen understanding of global health challenges, (2) promote systems thinking within a transdisciplinary team setting using a primary health care lens and (3) assess participants evaluations. The one-week blended learning course (35 units) includes e-learning, lectures, group work, and case discussions. The focus is on analysis of complex Global Health, Health Systems, Public Health Services, Urban/Planetary Health, Migration, Mental Health and Community Engagement cases. The interactive course emphasizes transdisciplinary approaches to complex issues. Voluntary anonymous evaluations are conducted. Results From 2023-2025, 88 students and early-career professionals from medicine, public health, psychology, environmental sciences, geography and economics participated. Course evaluation conducted with anonymous online survey (n = 55) showed high satisfaction with the teaching format, content, and relevance. Participants reported improved collaboration skills and stronger motivation to engage with global health challenges. Conclusions GHISS demonstrates that a transdisciplinary, primary care-based global health program is feasible to train critical competencies and expose students to teamwork to address global health challenges. The model is adaptable to other educational settings. Key messages • Transdisciplinary global health teaching is feasible to train teamwork and systems thinking. • The GHISS model is adaptable for diverse educational settings.