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Structural competency is a new curricular framework for training health professionals to recognise and respond to disease and its unequal distribution as the outcome of social structures, such as economic and legal systems, healthcare and taxation policies, and international institutions. While extensive global health research has linked social structures to the disproportionate burden of disease in the Global South, formal attempts to incorporate the structural competency framework into US-based global health education have not been described in the literature. This paper fills this gap by articulating five sub-competencies for structurally competent global health instruction. Authors drew on their experiences developing global health and structural competency curricula-and consulted relevant structural competency, global health, social science, social theory, and social determinants of health literatures. The five sub-competencies include: (1) Describe the role of social structures in producing and maintaining health inequities globally, (2) Identify the ways that structural inequalities are naturalised within the field of global health, (3) Discuss the impact of structures on the practice of global health, (4) Recognise structural interventions for addressing global health inequities, and (5) Apply the concept of structural humility in the context of global health.

Structural competency is a new curricular framework for training health professionals to recognise and respond to disease and its unequal distribution as the outcome of social structures, such as economic and legal systems, healthcare and taxation policies, and international institutions. While extensive global health research has linked social structures to the disproportionate burden of disease in the Global South, formal attempts to incorporate the structural competency framework into US-based global health education have not been described in the literature. This paper fills this gap by articulating five sub-competencies for structurally competent global health instruction. Authors drew on their experiences developing global health and structural competency curricula-and consulted relevant structural competency, global health, social science, social theory, and social determinants of health literatures. The five sub-competencies include: (1) Describe the role of social structures in producing and maintaining health inequities globally, (2) Identify the ways that structural inequalities are naturalised within the field of global health, (3) Discuss the impact of structures on the practice of global health, (4) Recognise structural interventions for addressing global health inequities, and (5) Apply the concept of structural humility in the context of global health.

Vietnamese Americans have high rates of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection but low rates of knowledge and screening. A population-based survey conducted in 2011 of Vietnamese Americans in two geographic areas (n = 1666) was analyzed. The outcome variables were having heard of HBV and a score summarizing knowledge of HBV transmission. Most respondents (86.0%) had heard of HBV. Correct knowledge of transmission ranged from 59.5% for sex, 68.1% for sharing toothbrushes, 78.6% for during birth, and 85.0% for sharing needles. In multivariable analyses, factors associated with having heard of HBV and higher knowledge included Northern California residence, longer U.S. residence, higher education, family history of HBV, and discussing HBV with family/friends. Higher income was associated with having heard of HBV. English fluency and being U.S.-born were associated with higher knowledge. Interventions to increase knowledge of HBV transmission are needed to decrease this health disparity among Vietnamese Americans.

Collaborative partnerships between community-based academic residency training programs and schools of public health, represent an innovative approach to training future physician leaders in population management and public health. In Kaiser Permanente Northern California, development of residency-Masters in Public Health (MPH) tracks in the Internal Medicine Residency and the Pediatrics Residency programs, with MPH graduate studies completed at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, enables physicians to integrate clinical training with formal education in epidemiology, biostatistics, health policy, and disease prevention. These residency-MPH programs draw on more than 50 years of clinical education, public health training, and health services research - creating an environment that sparks inquiry and added value by developing skills in patient-centered care through the lens of population-based outcomes.