Training for Equity: Participatory Systems Mapping in Global Health Education

This policy brief explores how future global health practitioners understand and reason about health equity through participatory systems mapping. Drawing on a study with first-year medical students at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda, it shows how students conceptualize equity as fairness, proportionality, and accountability across interconnected systems. Using Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping, the report demonstrates how participatory learning can strengthen systems thinking, shift attention from barriers to enablers of change, and highlight socioeconomic opportunity as a key driver of equitable health outcomes.