What is Global Health? 

      Global health is an area for study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide. Global health emphasizes transnational health issues, determinants, and solutions; and involves many disciplines within and beyond the health sciences and promotes interdisciplinary collaboration. It is a synthesis of population-based prevention with individual-level clinical care. 

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What is Sustainable Development? 

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      It is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. There are 17 goals, which address social, economic, and environmental issues like poverty and hunger, education and jobs, health, climate change, inequality, and gender equity. It will take the collaborative work of many: anti-poverty and anti-hunger advocates and organizations, the faith and charitable communities, think tanks, philanthropies, private sector companies/businesses, individual citizens, and all levels of government — to reach these goals. Collectively, we will need to generate new ideas, new approaches, and new partnerships to build the public and political support if we want to eliminate poverty and hunger almost entirely. 

 

What Regions of the World Have Poor Health? 

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      Health access inequalities are most prominent in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia as well as in countries like India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, & Ethiopia. As we speak, the right to healthcare still isn’t a reality for millions of children around the globe, and more particularly in developing countries. Every year, over 13 million children under the age of 5 years die from illnesses that could have been avoided or treated.

 

What is Poverty?

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      The United Nations observes that, worldwide, “poverty is defined in either relative or absolute terms. Absolute poverty measures poverty in relation to the amount of money necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. Relative poverty defines poverty in relation to the economic status of other members of the society: “people are poor if they fall below prevailing standards of living in a given societal context.” 

 

What Causes Poverty?

 

Around 8% of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty — but do you know why? 

 

Here are some causes: 

→ Inequality and marginalization

→ Conflict

→ Hunger, malnutrition, and stunting––caused by poverty

→ Poor healthcare systems –– especially for mothers and children

→ Little or no access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene

→ Climate change

→ Lack of education, government support, jobs or livelihood, and reserves

→ Poor public works and infrastructure

 

How Does Poverty Affect Health?

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      Poverty is a major cause of ill health and acts as a barrier from accessing health care when needed, for example lack of information on appropriate health-promoting practices or lack of voice needed to make social services work for them. In addition, the costs of seeking health care, which include not only out-of-pocket spending on care (such as consultations, tests, and medicine) but also transportation costs and any informal payments to providers. It is also due to the considerable loss of income associated with illness in developing countries, but also of family members who may be obliged to stop working or attending school to take care of an ill relative. 

 

What Steps Are Being Taken to Reduce Poverty?

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→ Equality and representation for all

→ Building resilience –– especially for climate change

→ Increase access to climate change 

→ Improve food security and access to clean water

→ End war and conflict

→ Embrace cash and microfinance 

 

How Can Citizens Play A Role?

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→ Create awareness: Social media has become an integral part of daily life, and now is the time to use it as a voice of social good. 

→ Take action on your own: Ex: funding a child’s education from a low income family

→ Donate: Donations do not always have to take the form of money, ex: donating books, old clothes, toiletries, or buying groceries. 

→ Eliminate gender inequality: More employment options in a country would create more jobs worldwide. 

→ Create jobs worldwide

→ Increase access to proper sanitation and clean water

→ Educate, educate, educate: UNESCO points out that basic reading skills can lift 171 million people out of extreme poverty, ultimately reducing the world’s total poverty by 12 percent.

 

      Above are a few solutions about how to stop poverty, but first, it is important to understand the roots of the problems that cause poverty. Since different countries have different reasons for poverty, there will never be a single solution for all. However, these seven actions can do a lot to alleviate poverty anywhere.

 

What is Infrastructure? 

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      Infrastructure supports daily life and the state’s economy. Infrastructure makes up our roads and transit systems, water pipes, and water treatment, as well as our parks and waste facilities, to name just a few. 

 

How Does Infrastructure Affect Health? 

 

      Infrastructure is a key pillar supporting the fundamental aim of promoting improved standards of care and well-being for all patients, together with a good experience of the healthcare system. Every public health program—such as immunizations, infectious disease monitoring, cancer, and asthma prevention, drinking water quality, injury prevention—requires health professionals who are competent in cross-cutting and technical skills, up-to-date information systems, and public health organizations with the capacity to assess and respond to community health needs. 

 

Why is Infrastructure Currently Not Good Enough? 

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      There is still the presence of corruption, overbearing bureaucracy, and under-skilled labor forces that exist in the US and beyond - the world faces a 15 trillion dollar infrastructure gap by 2040. 

 

What Steps Are Being Taken to Improve Infrastructure? 

 

      Leaders of the international community convened to assess steps that would catalyze greater investment in global infrastructure, increase investable project pipelines, increase technological innovation in infrastructure systems. Global infrastructure needs are daunting, particularly when contextualized against anxiety-inducing issues like strained government budgets, and even existential threats like climate change. Creating investable project pipelines and speeding the technological advancement of infrastructure development will not solve all the problems inhibiting infrastructure development - but they can provide some important solutions, and help create a more connected, prosperous, and sustainable world.