A Primer on Global Health
Global health is as large a topic as it sounds, covering everything that affects human health on this planet. The big overarching global health themes include infectious diseases that cross borders, health conditions serious enough to have impact on global politics and economics, and issues like pollution and war which impact health and ignore national boundaries. It overlaps a lot of other disciplines, including public health, international development, and medicine. People tend to use global health to mean tragic-human-suffering-in-the-developing-world, but that's inaccurate in a lot of ways. Wealthy countries have health issues too, and those health issues can have a global impact. And global health does have successes – it's not just a long list of tragedies.
Background Posts on Global Health
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There is an amazing body of work out there about global health. Books, websites, blogs, podcasts, videos – you can learn about any global health topic if you do a little digging. This is my own essential eleven.
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You don't have to be Bill Gates to make a difference in global health. The key is to figure out what you care about, and then figure out what you can give. It could be money, it could be time, or it could expertise.
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There is a limited amount of money available to spend on global health. So, every choice you make has both winners and losers. If you spend money on HIV, you’re not spending it on polio. If you spend it on women, you’re not spending it on men. Every decision disappoints some people, and rightly so. Ergo, controversy.
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I have a master's degree in public health with an international health focus. I spent six years living in Central Asia, and I am moving back this month. I spent a year and a half in Cairo, and I was never the same afterward. I've gone to a lot of effort to remain a generalist, picking jobs that let me deal with a wide range of global health topics, instead of becoming a specialist in just one thing. I have worked in disaster relief, health sector reform, and most of the stuff in between. I speak French and Uzbek pretty well, and Russian, Arabic and Urdu pretty badly.
Eleven Essential Resources on Global Health
Eight Ways to Make a Difference in Global Health
The Top Five Controversies in Global Health
About Alanna
Global Health Editor
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Te-Ping Chen
- Washington, DC
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Te-Ping Chen is a Change.org Editor.
Most recently, she was a staff reporter for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. In recent years, her writing has appeared in outlets that include the Nation Magazine, the American Prospect, the South China Morning Post magazine, Le Soir, and Slate.com. She is a U.S. Truman Scholar whose work has shared awards from the Overseas Press Club and Investigative Reporters and Editors.
Writers
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Caitlin Cohen
- Westminster Station, VT
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Caitlin Cohen is a co-founder of the Mali Health Organizing Project and AFUSC, a West African primary care network. She is currently a medical student at Brown University and serves on the administrative board of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health. She was awarded a Jack Kent Cooke scholarship and the Do Something award for the top 9 US activists under 25.
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Michael Jones
- Boston, MA
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Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor.
He is the former Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, as well as the former Director of Communications for Pax Christi USA, a national Catholic peace and justice organization. Mike is a graduate of Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and he is also a proud sketch comedy writer.
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Mike Smith
- San Francisco, United Kingdom
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Mike Smith is associate editor at Change.org. Email: mike@change.org
