ABSTRACT
Global health opportunities, whether they involve training, working or researching, have tremendous transformative potential for personal and professional development. In order to maximize this potential, it is important to develop a measure of what is called cultural competence. Cultural competence is an awareness of the importance of lifelong learning and an emerging critical consciousness necessary to be effective partners in intercultural contexts. This chapter provides guideposts for preparation as a key to being sensitive, responsive, humble and receptive to the importance of cultural context. It discusses the need to be responsive and respectful of culture as a factor in shaping the experience of giving and receiving care in all domains of practice. The chapter describes the knowledge that cultures change, adapt, shift and are taken up and experienced very differently by individuals and families within a particular community.
