Global Health : An Interdisciplinary Approach

The World Health Organization (WHO) has created an agenda for 2030. Within this agenda there are seventeen sustainable developmental goals (SDG) that aim to transform our world. These goals are to be met through numerous different means, government policies, public change, non-government organizations (NGO) and a variety of other ways. NGO’s are a large way to help meet these goals and impact the world for the better. LRBT, an NGO that focuses on eye care for those who live in Pakistan, focuses on meeting the goal ensuring healthy lives and wellbeing for all at all ages (United nations SDG, reference). Ensuring eye care for the residents of Pakistan not only provides them with care they should be subject too always, but

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,

“Without a lifespan view of women’s health… we are unlikely to be successful in advancing women’s health” (Woods 2009, pg. 400). A Global Health Imperative (2009) by author Nancy Fugate Woods explains the issues about health status and opportunities for the health of girl-children world-wide, which includes sex and gender disparities. Girl and women’s health is important, but just not as important as men’s health. Woods gives example of women’s health issues that are extremely serious. “Health issues or problems that occur predominantly in women are breast cancer and menopause” (Woods 2009, pg. 400). Women all over the world have the risk of getting breast cancer, HIV and Aids. Women that are affected by these diseases in some countries may

Globalization involves the movement of people, food, goods from one place to another. And in the process of countries integrating, people and goods move from one location to another. In as much as there is positive impact for people, goods and services to move from one country to another. There are chances that the people, goods and service in a county can be infected and taken across the border to another country. In the course of globalization people move from one country to another and they might have contacted diseases or the product that they are carrying across the border. Diseases such as AIDs, tuberculosis, malaria are the top among the list of the disease that is usually carried by people. But just as globalization increases the frequency and ease with which diseases can move around the world, it also can improve access to the medicines, medical information, and training that can help treat or cure these diseases. Drug companies and governments now have the ability to ship drugs to remote parts of the world affected by outbreaks of diseases. There are various options that can be used to lower the spread of global disease. Most countries usually have screening borders to check the people, food and

Malaria (also called biduoterian fever, blackwater fever, falciparum malaria, plasmodium, Quartan malaria, and tertian malaria) is one of the most infectious and most common diseases in the world. This serious, sometimes-fatal disease is caused by a parasite that is carried by a certain species of mosquito called the Anopheles. It claims more lives every year than any other transmissible disease except tuberculosis. Every year, five hundred million adults and children (around nine percent of the world’s population) contract the disease and of these, one hundred million people die. Children are more susceptible to the disease than adults, and in Africa, where ninety percent of the world’s cases occur and where eighty percent of the cases

Health is a complex concept, and global health adds to this complexity. When I think of health as a concept, I view it as being absent of disease. This understanding is a very biomedical approach to health and is a very narrow viewpoint of health. According to the World Health Organization (1948), health is defined as a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (a cited by Jacobsen p. 2). This definition does give a better understanding of what health is from a broader perspective. At the University of Victoria’s Global Health class, I have become to understand better the WHO’s definition and that it is linked to the social determinants of health. In this paper, I will reflect and analyze the learning that occurred for myself while taking the Global Health class, and how this knowledge has helped my nursing practice evolve at the local and international level.

Global health has always been an issue. There are always disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and countries who do not have access to the resources they need. For years, people have been working to get urgent medical care to people who need it most, and also to educate them about basic health and hygiene. There have been many organizations and partnerships who have contributed to the advancement of global health, but the one that stands out the most is the World Health Organization. The World Health Organization has impacted global health by who they are and what they do, what emergencies they have dealt with, and the research they have done.

Malaria has been a huge problem among many developing nations over the past century. The amount of people in the entire world that die from malaria each year is between 700,000 and 2.7 million. 75% of these deaths are African children (Med. Letter on CDC & FDA, 2001). 90% of the malaria cases in the world are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Once again, the majority of these deaths are of children (Randerson, 2002). The numbers speak for themselves. Malaria is a huge problem and needs to be dealt with immediately.

Globalization aided in impacting human health by population mobility. The source of epidemics throughout history can be traced back to human migration (Saker). The effects of these epidemics have changed whole societies. International efforts to prevent the spreading of infections from one country to another have been focused on. Early diseases that spread between Asia and Europe included the bubonic plague, influenzas of various types, and other similar contagious diseases. The world is more interdependent and connected than ever in the era of globalization. This is because inexpensive and efficient transportation allows access to almost everywhere and the increase of global trade of agricultural products brought an increasing number of people into contact with animal disease. Trade routes had long been established between Europe and Asia along which diseases were unintentionally transmitted. The management of malaria is a global role (Carter). Global institutions support the

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.

The relationship between society and disease causes some of the most complex issues in existence today. This complexity continues to grow, as the global community does not have a universal mode of combating health decline. For this reason, some diseases and causative agents have thrived for hundreds and thousands of years without a true cure. Fortunately, there are numerous scientific fields dedicated to researching the problems and solutions that contribute to worldwide health. Medical anthropology is one of the fields that attempt to bridge the gap between contrasting belief systems, and ask the sensitive questions that politicians and world leaders avoid answering. For this reason, understanding disease is becoming more available, and

The Global Healthcare Challenge is focused on health care and medical biotechnology. Biotechnology researchers and clinicians are healing the world by harnessing nature’s own toolbox, and our genetic makeup, to produce breakthrough products and technologies that meet our most pressing health care needs. Whether reducing the rates of infectious disease, increasing the odds of survival for serious conditions across the world or combating emerging threats in the developing world, biotechnology is there, changing the world now.

"The failure to engage in the fight to anticipate, prevent, and ameliorate global health problems would diminish America's stature in the realm of health and jeopardize our own 
health, economy, and national security, " stated by The Institute of Medicine. Global health refers to health phenomenon that transcends across national borders. For instance, global health would address predicaments such as: infectious and insect-borne diseases that can spread from one country to another. Thus, global health should be addressed by collaborative actions and solutions. On the other hand, countries tend to focus on other essential issues that are occurring in the present day and therefore, overlook the global health issue. Some issues that countries

Malaria is a vector-borne disease transmitted by infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. Though this crippling disease is both preventable and curable, 300 to 500 million cases are reported each year, resulting in over 1 million deaths (Thomson et al. 2006). The majority of deaths occur in young children and pregnant women living in sub-Saharan Africa.

Malaria is one of the ten most common, yet deadly diseases in the world. It is a parasitic disease spread by the bite of Anopheles mosquito, which is active between dusk and dawn. Malaria occurs in over 100 countries and territories.