Global health

For the bibliographic database, see Global Health database.
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Global health is the health of populations in a worldwide context;[1] it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide".[2] Problems that transcend national borders or have a global political and economic impact are often emphasized.[3] Thus, global health is about worldwide health improvement (including mental health), reduction of disparities, and protection against global threats that disregard national borders,[4][5] including the most common causes of human death and years of life lost from a global perspective.

Global health is not to be confused with international health, which is defined as the branch of public health focusing on developing nations and foreign aid efforts by industrialized countries.[6]

One way that global health can be measured is through the prevalence of various global diseases in the world and their threat to decrease life expectancy in the present day. Estimates suggest that in a pre-modern, poor world, life expectancy was around 30 years in all regions of the world (mainly due to high infant mortality).[7] Another holistic perspective called One Health can be used to address global health challenges and to improve global health security.[8][9][10]

The predominant agency associated with global health (and international health) is the World Health Organization (WHO). Other important agencies impacting global health include UNICEF and World Food Programme (WFP). The United Nations system has also played a part in cross-sectoral actions to address global health and its underlying socioeconomic determinants with the declaration of the Millennium Development Goals[11] and the more recent Sustainable Development Goals.

  1. ^ Brown TM, Cueto M, Fee E (January 2006). "The World Health Organization and the transition from "international" to "global" public health". American Journal of Public Health. 96 (1): 62–72. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2004.050831. PMC 1470434. PMID 16322464.
  2. ^ Koplan JP, Bond TC, Merson MH, Reddy KS, Rodriguez MH, Sewankambo NK, Wasserheit JN (June 2009). "Towards a common definition of global health". Lancet. 373 (9679): 1993–5. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.610.7968. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60332-9. PMC 9905260. PMID 19493564. S2CID 6919716.
  3. ^ Global Health Initiative (2008). Why Global Health Matters. Washington, DC: FamiliesUSA. Archived from the original on 2011-03-08. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  4. ^ Macfarlane SB, Jacobs M, Kaaya EE (December 2008). "In the name of global health: trends in academic institutions". Journal of Public Health Policy. 29 (4): 383–401. doi:10.1057/jphp.2008.25. PMID 19079297. S2CID 46424271.
  5. ^ Fischer SE, Patil P, Zielinski C, Baxter L, Bonilla-Escobar FJ, Hussain S, et al. (May 2020). "Is it about the 'where' or the 'how'? Comment on Defining global health as public health somewhere else". BMJ Global Health. 5 (5): e002567. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002567. PMC 7223010. PMID 32381654.
  6. ^ White F, Nanan DJ (2008). "International and Global Health". In Wallace RB (ed.). Maxcy-Rosenau-Last Public Health and Preventive Medicine (15th ed.). McGraw Hill. pp. 1252–8. ISBN 978-0-07-144198-8.
  7. ^ Roser M, Ortiz-Ospina E, Ritchie H (2013-05-23). "Life Expectancy". Our World in Data.
  8. ^ Conrad PA, Meek LA, Dumit J (May 2013). "Operationalizing a One Health approach to global health challenges". Comparative Immunology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. 36 (3): 211–6. doi:10.1016/j.cimid.2013.03.006. PMID 23711930.
  9. ^ Hernando-Amado S, Coque TM, Baquero F, Martínez JL (September 2019). "Defining and combating antibiotic resistance from One Health and Global Health perspectives". Nature Microbiology. 4 (9): 1432–42. doi:10.1038/s41564-019-0503-9. PMID 31439928. S2CID 201283254.
  10. ^ Sinclair JR (May 2019). "Importance of a One Health approach in advancing global health security and the Sustainable Development Goals". Revue Scientifique et Technique. 38 (1): 145–154. doi:10.20506/rst.38.1.2949. PMID 31564744. S2CID 203608381.
  11. ^ "Millennium Development Goals". United Nations. Retrieved 2013-03-15.