Disadvantages Of Global Health Travel

We live in a country where all children go to school to gain an education and 25% of them will go onto receive some type of college degree. Compare this to low-income countries, in which children are 16 times as likely to die prior to their fifth birthday (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2016). Beyond the lens of our smartphones, Facebook friends and Nike sneakers is a world full of desperate people wishing to have enough food to eat for today. Many parts of the world lack sanitation, safe housing, sparse medical care and no medication. The global health issue are everyone’s problems not only for the sake of altruism but, with the increase in global travel for routine business and pleasure, dangerous pathogen are no longer confine by boarders. The Ebola outbreak four years ago, proved the necessity of a global solution to global health issues. The collaborative practice of several world health agencies and economically developed countries along with the use of volunteers, statistical updates, the latest literature and practices kept this outbreak mostly contained to its region of origin and the death toll to approximately 11,000 people (mainly in West Africa) (WHO,

Medical Tourism is used to represent obtaining medical or surgical services while travelling or vacationing in another country. Medical tourism is a form of health tourism generally referring to the travel of people to another country with the objective of obtaining medical treatment in that country. Medical Tourism, which is defined as movements of people travelling to another country for medical treatment (Keckley & Underwood, 2008) is continuing to be a growing global industry. Turner (2007) suggested that due to globalization number of patients is increasing due to reductions in health benefits offered by states and employers for affordable medical care. Herick (2007) pointed out that worldwide tough competition in health care is compelling more patients from developed countries to travel for medical reasons to regions once

A Heart for the Work: Journeys Through an African Medical School by Claire L. Wendland is both an first hand account of time spent in an African medical school and hospital as well as a critique on Western medical practices. Dr. Wendland, an accomplished anthropologist and physician, provides a first hand account of her time in a Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world. Through this account she provides insight into the complete journey a student must take to become a doctor in conditions much different than our own. These insights and research are used to argue that medicine, or biomedicine as it is called, is part of a cultural system and is predicated on the cultural ideals and resources of developed nations. Wendland uses the differences in moral order, technology, and resources between the Malawian culture and our own culture to provide evidence for her main argument.

I concentrated my Master’s studies in international health, and, to understand and experience health from an international perspective, felt it was important to live and be educated overseas. Studying in Australia, I was exposed to, not only cultural differences, but systematic, political, and infrastructure differences, and I began to understand how what one has access to influences their life.

With the increasing violence throughout the world, an increase in healthcare workers has also increased. Providing care to people that have come from war torn areas need their beliefs and values to be respected like any other culture. It should also be considered that these particular groups may need specialized care dealing with trauma. With the increase in the need for providers, traveling healthcare providers need to consider the environments they are entering into and the differences in culture (Andrews & Boyle,

The poor areas have many less doctors than the wealthy spots, even though the rural areas suffer from much harsher diseases on a larger scale. The countries either provide medical training for their own citizens or fund their training from somewhere else, but once the students have the skills to save lives, they move to different places for higher pay. This issue lies not only in South Africa, but in the entire continent. For example, for every Liberian doctor working in Liberia, there are two working abroad. Not only is there a shortage of doctors in general (averaging about 1.15 doctors for every 1,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa) but a shortage of nurses and midwives. Over two-thirds of mothers in Africa have no health professionals to guide them through hardships regarding pregnancy and childbirth, causing Africa alone to be responsible for over one half of the world’s infant and maternal

I am applying for the WTIS: Public Health, Community, and Culture in Cuba because I desire an integrating experience that incorporates my passions of medicine, service, and travel. As a kinesiology major with a dream of working in the healthcare industry, I am interested in gaining a hands-on experience in a drastically different healthcare system from my own. I have been fortunate to have previously visited Eldoret, Kenya, where I was exposed to the AMPATH-Kenya Indiana University Medical School and Hospital, rural village health care, and a day shelter for the street children of Eldoret. The life-changing experience gave me awareness on the lack of health care in third world countries, but most importantly sparked my interest in medicine.

For the last several years I’ve been involved in surgical medical missions as a registered nurse with an operating room speciality. At this point in my life, with my four children off on their own, I can offer my time and services to go places that do not have the medical care we have access to in the U.S.

I have always been aware of global issues and needing to understand what is happening in the world has always been important to me. However, I never understood global concerns through a health paradigm. Many of the concepts presented in this course were not new to me, as I have been an active participant in global issues and organizations, such as Spread the Net Campaign to end malaria, as well as many different human rights causes. However, the new insight I gained was in regards to

Global health is defined as “health problems, issues, or concerns that transcend national borders” (Institute of Medicine, 1997, p. 2). Koplan (2009) proposed a new definition for global health which he described as an “area for study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide” (para, 7). Global health emphasizes transnational health issues, determinants, and solutions from an interdisciplinary perspective and blends population health and clinical care.

My placement in the Atlantis Fellowship would contribute significantly to my healthcare journey. My goal is to become a member of the Physician Healthcare field, while simultaneously contributing to the embodiment of a Physician. I seek to connect and foster change in the people, not just in curing illness, but the way that we interact as humans. In order to accomplish this, I have dedicated time on a community level with people; connecting at the true foundation of medicine. Through my journey I wish to build not only my interactions with individuals, but foster a new foundation of thinking and implementing medicine. Traveling abroad with Atlantis Project would give insight and allow a new perspective on medicine with a group of individuals

The clinical rotations will allow me to shadow doctors in various settings, ranging from surgery and neonatal units at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s teaching hospital to a parochial hospital founded by Trappist monks to a non-profit HIV clinic. What I would learn and see from one month in South Africa would be more than what I could hope to learn from a year-long internship in America. My study abroad will be instrumental to my professional goals as it will allow me to better understand the context of the socio-economic factors underlying challenges in South Africa’s health care system. By furthering the depth of my knowledge, I will be instrumentally effective in catering a future solution towards quality health care and becoming a well-rounded health care

I want to study abroad because of all the opportunities it offers. Studying abroad would be my first chance to explore the world on my own. It would also provide me with numerous opportunities to learn in and out of the classroom. Studying abroad is the best of both worlds. I get to further my education and make progress to become the physician I wish to be, while living in a totally new and exciting environment. Getting to learn and adapt to a new culture presents its own challenges like culture shock, but in the end I think that it’s an important process that everyone should go through. I believe that studying abroad would also make me a better doctor. I feel that learning about a culture different from my own and having to adapt to it will make be able to account for people’s culture before making assumptions about their choices or behaviors. My values and beliefs may differ extremely from that of my patient if they come from a different culture.

Thus, finding methods of educating people, and providing medical aid for these preventable diseases can avoid many deaths. Second reason for attending global health issue is for balancing resources. According to The Lancet Journal, ninety percent of the world’s health care resources are spent on diseases that affect only ten percent of the world’s population. (Norris, 2009) Therefore, ensuring that resources are evenly distributed throughout the world would assist to limit the diseases from spreading from country to country. Third, global health can influence Canadians indirectly such as, the increase of diseases. Some of these diseases becoming more prevalent is HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB and are increasing poverty and political instability within countries. (Worldwide HIV & AIDS Statistics, 2009) Thus, global health should be a concern because it can help prevent civil conflict in other countries. (Worldwide HIV & AIDS Statistics, 2009) Fourth, global health should be a concern across all nations as there is more contact amongst people because of globalization diseases occurs at a faster rate. Globalization is defined as a modern phenomenon process by which countries and peoples are increasingly interconnected, integrated, and interdependent that occurred over centuries. (Andrews, 2010) Since the world is increasingly becoming interconnected, diseases can travel from nation to nation and it can cause

Although volunteers for Medecins Sans Frontiers are commonly stationed in various countries with a dire healthcare worker shortage, regions with refugee camps and internally displaced persons are also a focus for this organization. Refugees and internally displaced persons often come from war torn regions and live in close confines with poor sanitation and limited resources. These living situations become a breeding ground for diseases and other health issues like malnutrition, yet the individuals lack access to any sort of healthcare. The organization also responds quickly when regions suddenly experience an increased need for healthcare, for example in times of an epidemic or a natural disaster. Medecins Sans Frontiers’ involvement across its varying regions and their attempt to address a broad spectrum of healthcare truly show how altruistic the organization is to individuals regardless of race, gender, or religion.