The Importance of Studying Global Health
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The field of public health is a unique and exciting area that provides many opportunities to help others and make a lasting impact on populations across the globe. Public health professionals work to uncover the root cause of health problems to develop practical, innovative, and scalable solutions that ultimately prevent disease and improve health outcomes.
While all public health professionals are working towards one goal–to promote better health for individuals and communities–their work spans a large spectrum. There are many fields within public health, including community health, health policy and management, epidemiology, biostatistics, disaster management, maternal and child health, and global health.
Every effort within public health, across all disciplines, has the potential to positively impact the lives of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people.
Why global health matters and why the study of global health is important
Global health is about the health of all people worldwide–it is about the health of all people worldwide, our collective international community. As opposed to a neighborhood, town, city, state, or country, it focuses on achieving better health outcomes for populations worldwide and transcending international borders.
Those who study and work in global health strive to reduce inequities, combat preventable diseases, improve health education, and make healthcare accessible and affordable. Studying global health leads to a holistic understanding of the diseases and inequities that affect individuals across the 7 continents.
Those who study global health develop unique skills and knowledge, much of which focuses on how politics, economics, and culture influence health. They are taught how to use systemic analysis to understand global health problems, how to collaborate effectively (often across cultures and ethnicities), and how to promote education to drive behavior change.
Global health is a broad and multidisciplinary field, one with just as many opportunities as there are challenges. Global health promotes interdisciplinary collaboration. Since global health issues are often highly complex, they must be approached from multiple angles–cultural, political, economic, environmental, social, and technological.
Global health efforts make a global difference
Over the last century, the world has become interconnected, and increases in global trade and travel have resulted in ample benefits while also leading to new and complex problems. As people and goods experience seamless journeys across the globe, so do infectious diseases and pandemics, such as COVID-19.
Global health initiatives address issues that pose a threat to individuals worldwide. Those who study global health and later work in the field can make a difference across various problems and challenges by developing sustainable, creative solutions that positively impact the quality of life of individuals across the globe.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) list of global health challenges depicts just how broad, complex, and apt for the opportunity the field of global health is:
Elevating health in the climate debate
Delivering health in conflict and crisis
Making health care fairer
Expanding access to medicines
Stopping infectious disease
Preparing for epidemics
Protecting people from dangerous products
Investing in the people who defend our health
Keeping adolescents safe
Earning public trust
Harnessing new technologies
Protecting the medicines that protect us
Keeping health care clean
Work in global public health has led to significant advancements for humankind, including reductions in child mortality, increased access to safe water and sanitation, vaccination development, malaria prevention, and control, HIV/AIDs prevention, tobacco education, improved global road safety, control of neglected tropical diseases, and much more.
Promoting health across the world
At the end of the day, public health is about the science and art of preventing disease. Global health is about achieving this goal across the international community. Global health is an excellent field of study for those passionate about building bridges, getting to the root cause of disparities, and building a healthier, more just world.
