Attachments

The ROUGH GUIDE to getting more global health in YOUR curriculum

what?

Global health is a broad subject that looks at the local, national and international determinants of health and healthcare delivery.

Global Health assesses the wider influences of health such as poverty, debt, globalisation, healthcare financing, human rights, famine, environment, violent conflict and the movement of populations. It draws from a number of disciplines including politics, economics, sociology, demography, anthropology, epidemiology and philosophy.

why?

Students who have studied global health are better equipped to understand root causes in addition to the clinical manifestations of ill health.

Global health teaching will also help to foster a generation of health professionals who are committed to health for all, as enshrined at the International Conference on Primary Health Care, Alma-Ata, in 1978. We see health professionals as having a commitment not only to their patients but also to the health of society as a whole. The growing number of health professionals who are committed to global health equity can form a powerful group of advocates for health for all.

Globalisation is changing the structure of societies and the way in which decisions about health are taken. Many societies are becoming more multicultural, and global health teaching helps medical students to understand both the reasons for increased population movement and the social, economic and cultural factors underlying patients' ill health.

Decisions about health and healthcare are also increasingly influenced through global trade agreements such as TRIPS and GATS, and it is important for health professionals to understand the influence of such global policies on their work.

Globalisation means that medical students and health professionals are increasingly likely to work outside their own countries. Global health helps them to understand the different societies and health systems where they may work, and thus adapt better and more quickly to their new surroundings.

NEXT

© Medsin Global Health Project 2005

Last updated on Saturday 07 October 2006 at 15:31.