The program was able to run successfully.
The program was able to run successfully. l only to pop up in another
Humans across the globe have become increasingly interconnected, and our health is no exception. Despite attempts to divide the planet by political and geographical boundaries, health remains a species-wide concern. In some cases, our health has blurred these boundaries, while in other ways, human health has been determined by them. With over 7 billion people living in about 200 different countries, global health can be complicated, challenging, and even surprising. For example, the communicable diseases we often think of as the biggest killers, such as malaria or the flu, are actually not the leading causes of death in most places. So, what is? How do entire countries provide care for each other? What if a country doesn’t want help from other countries? And what if the help actually harms other countries?
The term “global health” can be difficult to define, as it needs to encompass the entire planet. Generally, it can be thought of as a public health approach that puts emphasis on improving health for everyone in the world, while eliminating the health equity gaps that result from things like nationality, income, and gender. How successful is it at accomplishing these goals? It depends.
The question of when human health became a global phenomenon is up for debate. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) was established in April 1948, indicating that human civilization was indisputably a global phenomenon. The WHO’s constitution declared that its objective was to attain the highest possible level of health for all people. This was one of the first global movements that established health as an international human right.
When the WHO was formed, the leading cause of global human death was communicable diseases. These are diseases that are spread from one living thing to another through pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses, which are spread through respiratory droplets, blood, and saliva. As people become better at moving around resources, and themselves, they also get better at moving these pathogens around. Whether it was trade facilitated along the Silk Road, or a spring break trip to Disney World, people have gotten really good at building global superhighways of trade, travel, and tourism. Without a globally coordinated response, eliminating a disease across the face of the planet is a bit like playing a game of whack-a-mole, with the disease being squashed in one part of the world, only to pop up in another. world mental health is chronically underfunded and underserved
When it comes to foreign aid, low-income countries need more income and resources, such as food and doctors, to help them survive. Richer countries can provide aid by selling food to those countries at a low cost or sending doctors to provide more affordable health care. Aid dependency is the proportion of a country’s government spending that is provided by foreign donors.
Aid is often a simple, short-term solution to what turns out to be a much deeper problem. For example, Haiti was once one of the richest and most productive colonies in the world under French rule, but after a successful rebellion against the French that resulted in its independence in 1804, Haiti spent the next 100-120 years paying reparations to France, which took up as much as 80% of Haiti’s revenue. In the 20th century, Haiti was subject to an almost 20-year US occupation, where things like forced changes to their agricultural practices led to further instability. As a result, Haiti is now one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere with one of the highest rates of food insecurity.
In an attempt to make food affordable, Haiti is exporting it, often selling it below standard market price. This has put local Haitian farmers out of business, meaning they have even less homegrown food and are even more dependent on aid. The deeper challenges underlying Haiti’s widespread food insecurity, such as lack of jobs, poor education and ineffective trade policies, have not been addressed.
In 2010, the Haitian government called for an end to international food aid, instead of providing food aid, international institutions can help to develop the infrastructure and workforce necessary for Haitians to achieve sustainable, long-term economic growth.
When it comes to global health, it can be easy to think of it as something that happens somewhere else, but this is flawed thinking. Mental health is an example of a global health issue that is chronically underfunded and underserved, yet accounts for as much as 14% of the global burden of disease. It is important to address both short-term needs, like hunger, and longer term considerations, like becoming truly food independent, when it comes to global health.