Cross-cultural school-based encounters as global health education

Objective: Drawing on the concepts of the cosmopolitan person and democratic health education, this article explores the merits of primary school-based, cross-cultural dialogues for global health education. Design: A qualitative study of the learning outcomes of the Move|Eat|Learn (MEL) project. MEL facilitates cultural meetings, primarily Skype-based, between students from Kenya and Denmark, with the aim of promoting reflection on differences and similarities in everyday living conditions and their impact on health practices. Setting: Three Danish and one Kenyan primary schools. Methods: Qualitative analysis of 18 focus group discussions with 72 Danish and 36 Kenyan students. Results: Cross-cultural dialogues promoted students' engagement and reflections on their own and peers' health condition, access to education, food cultures, gender and family structures. Conclusion: Findings indicate the merits of cross-cultural dialogues as a means of educating students to become global health agents with a cosmopolitan outlook.