The first step for innovation in education of the health workforce is establishment of desired competencies.  Learning objectives and learner assessment follow from those competencies.  A World Health Organization consensus document published in this issue offers a competency framework for essential public health functions that can serve to guide education for this cadre of health workers.

While the WHO paper reflects a global consensus on competencies, regional considerations continue to be important.  Regional context offers a new lens on issues we thought we understood, whether it’s pregnancy and rural mental health in war-torn Sudan, education at the US-Mexican border, or dental education in India.  Techniques – educational or clinical – practiced in one region face different challenges and need to be newly tested as they are introduced in other parts of the world.  This issue of Education for Health contains several articles that demonstrate this concept.  We encourage authors to emphasize unique elements of their local context when analyzing innovations that may be common in other regions.

Many regions are starting to use artificial intelligence algorithms in medical education.  Our first paper on this subject addresses its ability to predict engagement and performance of students based on the degree of their interaction with a learning management platform.  Some of the terminology is new, for example, “confusion matrix,” and familiarity with these new terms will help educators interpret future studies on artificial intelligence.  Given the present low cost of entry, we may find an equalizer effect between high and low resource areas as AI usage becomes more prevalent.  Because of this low financial barrier, we are likely to find it applied widely. Widespread use will challenge us to be familiar with concepts such as those presented in the paper on AI algorithms to test its utility, authenticity, creativity, and efficiency.

Several education innovation papers appear in this issue – virtual training in cytology, microlearning for wound healing, and reflective practice. There is also a paper on the process of innovation itself.

Finally, the issue contains conceptual papers on social determinants of health – one on stakeholders’ impact, another on the regional profiles of students, and a third using an equity lens to advance social accountability.

Our wide regional authorship offers an opportunity to test ideas in new contexts.  We present these global and regional papers to our audience with the hope that readers will want to assess these and other innovations in their part of the world.