Defining global health has been a challenge. This has been especially true in recent years with the increased interest in science, philanthropy, and politics related to global health. In the June 6, 2009 issue of The Lancet, a multidisciplinary and international panel brought together by the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH), and led by Jeffrey P. Koplan, MD, has taken a bold step in offering the world a definition.
The article entitled Towards a Common Definition of Global Health, represents an important step in bringing together the work, “and priorities for action between physicians, researchers, funders, the media, and the general public.” A thoughtful process is outlined considering the origins of global health in the areas of public health and international health.
The attempt is to be broad rather than limiting, and emphasizes multidisciplinary approaches and mutuality, as well as equity and collaboration.
We applaud CUGH for this effort and recommend this article to all CFHI students. We greatly appreciate that an effort has been made across continents and cultures to find common ground for the advancement of the study and the work of Global Health.
In recent years, at conference after conference, speakers have noted that there is no real agreement on just what is involved in Global Health. This long-awaited work is welcome, especially in its tone –it is not forceful or proprietary but open, inviting, and humble. We hope that it serves as a good starting point for people from all aspects of Global Health to find a workable construct that will be helpful to collaboration in our work and research.
Please go the The Lancet website and find the article.
WHO Director-General, Margaret Chan, called for greater equity in health to be considered as part of how we measure progress as a global community.
“Greater equity in the health status of populations, within and between countries, should be regarded as a key measure of how we, as a civilized society, are making progress,” Dr. Chan said speaking at UN Headquarters in New York.
At the very least, we should all recognize that Dr Chan has a perspective that almost no one else shares. In her role as Director-General, she has been very active in discovering and learning as much as she can from all corners of the world. So when she stands before the world’s ambassadors and says, “The world is in such a great big mess,” it is the considered opinion of the world’s doctor. Of course she was trying to speak in a way that cuts through ceremony and can be easily understood by all.
She went on to give more of her considered opinion, “Pandemic influenza, for example, will hit hardest in developing countries, which have large vulnerable populations. With their weak health systems, these struggling countries will take longer to recover. In many ways, developing countries facing the pandemic are virtually empty-handed,” said Dr Chan.
With calls for systemic change being a big part of recent United Nations discussions, Dr. Chan took the opportunity to advocate for health with the assembled global leadership, “We hear clear calls, from leaders around the world, to give the international systems a moral dimension,” said Dr Chan, “to redesign them to respond to social values and concerns… A focus on health as a worthy pursuit for its own sake is the surest route to the moral dimension, the surest route to a value system that puts the welfare of humanity at its heart. Greater equity in the health status of populations, within and between countries, should be regarded as key measure of how we, as a civilized society, are making progress.” As noted with her remarks on the WHO website, “One method for achieving fairness, she suggested, would be for more countries to embrace primary health care. As she noted, a primary health care approach introduces greater fairness as well as efficiency, and allows health systems to reach their potential as cohesive, stabilizing social institutions.”
At the Global Health Council conference in Washington, DC, in June of 2008, on Primary Health Care, a discussion involving Dr. Chan at a public session included the notion of conducting a health systems impact study when any significant funding is allocated. Typically large amounts of funding from governments, world bodies or foundations focus on a particular disease or health issue. Too often, in the heroic attempt to eradicate a menacing problem, the impact on, or even the essential contribution of the existing health system and the health workforce are considered only tangentially or perhaps not at all.
The analogy was to an environmental impact report that is often required before any large-scale building or infrastructure projects are conducted. While environmental impact reports have their own problems, the notion of considering all aspects of the health system in a community or a country can be an important way to find the strengths and successes that will be critical to the success of new efforts. Building on the local strengths and knowledge of a community and allowing a new idea to be informed by the local cultural wisdom can go a long way to achieving greater equity, including Primary Health Care in the process, and ultimately more efficient progress.
The May-June issue of International Educator, the magazine of the Association of International Educators (NAFSA), contains an article by Karen Legget entitled: Teaching Medicine Without Borders. Ms Legget traces the movement from “International Health” to “Global Health” and the impact this is having on medical education.
She looks at various programs from medical schools to organizations (including CFHI) and conducts interviews with students and administrators alike. Her article can be found through the NAFSA website.
In May 2009, President Barack Obama issued a statement on global health. “We cannot simply confront individual preventable illnesses in isolation,” the president said. He continued, “The world is interconnected, and that demands an integrated approach to global health.”
One of CFHI’s newest programs, Sight for All- Ophthalmology Rotation is unique in that it is based out of just one organization- a local NGO located in New Delhi, India. CFHI participants rotate through the various departments, learning how programs and treatment are implemented to reduce preventable visual handicaps. Participants are exposed to mobile eye care clinics, ophthalmic procedures in the operating theater, and take part in advanced level classes at the institute.
The Sight for All program recently had its first participant, Melanie Mamon, and she shares a report on her experiences. To learn more about the program’s location, arrival dates, and clinical sites, click here.
