Global Health And International Organizations

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,

Chapter 2 focuses on problems in health care such as access, cost, quality, and what some believe to lead to health issues. “The World Health Organization defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being” (p27). Many argue that “the study of social problems is, essentially, the study of health problems, as each social problem affects the physical, mental, and social well-being of humans and the social groups of which they are a part” (p27).

The third episode of the video series “Rx for Survival,” focused on the hindrances in conveying the 21st century’s global health tools worldwide and was titled “Delivering the Goods.” The episode expressed the difficulty in delivering public health interventions to many of the world’s people; as a large challenge, and declared the fact that 10 million children die yearly from preventable causes “a great paradox of public health” (Rx for Survival, 2005). The video relayed some of the larger obstacles to providing care for the needy as being: geographical, information delivery, and political (Rx for Survival, 2005).

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.

The Journal of Global Health Perspectives is an online open-access research journal. In addition to publishing primary research they also publish articles that relate meaningful experiences, observations and reflections from members of the global health community. To publish an article in the journal the article had to be E mailed to them along with a signed copyright policy and indicate the category of the work. Current topics of interest are Child health inequality, Maternal health in India, Ebola eradication.

Many changes have been mad through these action strategies. (Global Health Promotion, 2007) For example, in the past 25 years, due to healthy public policy there were massive progresses in controlling tobacco. However, this strategy needs to be re-constructed to better reflect and respond to the dominant economic growth policies being pursued by most countries in the world, and particularly to reflect the impact of the globalisation of trade on health. (Critical Public Health, 2008) However there were not many progresses within reorient health services. World widely, it is challenging to access appropriate and affordable health care because of cost or cultural problem. It is true that reorienting health services has remained substantially unfinished and ongoing. However number of critiques mentioned that ‘Ottawa Charter’ is still useful and useable up to now with several key points such as international relations, environmental conditions or global health. (Global Health Promotion,

There is no universal fix to the complexities of each country and what they face with regards to their health care needs. Health care is a fundamental need among all peoples. Each country will have to work on solving the disparities that exist in access of care, funding of care, and availability of care. Because we now find ourselves facing the dilemma of fighting many infectious diseases once thought to be under control, we must work with all countries around the world. Every country faces the potential of an outbreak of a disease like SARS or a terrorism strike involving biological or chemical agents. Global initiatives to improve the health of nations across the board regardless of resources in these nations will benefit all. We need to continue with consistent and comprehensive measures to ensure health equity to all (Williams & Torrens, 2010).

Transparency is needed because everyone should have access to essential health information. Participation from the community is a component because everyone is a stakeholder. Hunt and Backman also stress equity, equality, and non-discrimination because health systems must be accessible to everyone and protected by the law. They also argue that health committee members must show respect for cultural differences. Medical care is one crucial component of a health system, but covering health determinants is equally critical in Hunt and Backman’s framework. They also cover the need for progressive realization to implement health systems effectively and account for resource accessibility. However, Hunt and Backman state that distinct from the progressive realization component are “duties of immediate effect” which requires that a list of minimum essentials be guaranteed and minimum baskets of health services for each country are adopted (84-85). There must be quality of care, and access to preventive care and effective referral systems. All health care participants should coordinate health care at the international, national, and departmental levels. There should be international cooperation in the control of infectious diseases, distribution of health findings, and international regulatory plans. Participants must cover balances between resources and rights conflicts and should fairly resolve by considering the viewpoint of the least powerful participant. Last,

The World Health Organization (WHO) was established in 1948 by the United Nations, serving as a specialized agency to coordinate international health and public health problems (Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003, p. 4). Mason, Gardner, Outlaw, and O'Grady (2016) states that health is created where people live, work, and play; therefore being more dependent on one’s zipcode rather than one’s genetic code (p. 2). One of the goals of the WHO is to create a healthier nation which requires that the factors that challenge or promote health be addressed; these factors are known as the social determinants of health or the core determinants of health (Mason, Gardner, Outlaw, & O'Grady, 2016).

Beaglehole, R., & Bonita, R. (2010, April 6). What is global health? Retrieved March 08, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2852240/

Subsequent work within the international context by Wood and Badley (1978) and Wood (1981) resulted in the adoption of this typology by the World Health Organization (WHO); it has dominated sociological analyses and social policy research ever since.

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 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.

Global Health referred as life expectancy, high and low mortality, high and low fertility, public health issues, sanitation, nutrition, human health and development, hygiene, waterborne diseases, global epidemic, emerging virus, SARS, and H5N1 virus.