Playing for the planet: Gamified learning and global health education

Playing for the planet: Gamified learning and global health education Dr Michael J Dillon and Professor Laura Bowater emphasise the significance of gamification in global health education amidst increasingly complex challenges. Global health challenges are increasingly complex, interconnected and difficult to predict. Climate change, emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance and humanitarian crises do not occur in isolation; they are often linked (1) and interact across systems, borders and communities in ways that are difficult to capture through traditional teaching methods alone. For students entering healthcare and biomedical professions, understanding these challenges and visualising how they are interconnected requires more than memorising facts or recalling protocols. They must learn to interpret evolving situations, weigh competing priorities, and consider how decisions can have consequences across wider social, environmental, and healthcare systems. Increasingly, educators are turning to gamified and simulation-based learning to help students engage with this complexity in more active and meaningful ways.