Most significant Issues to Know About Global Health that the medics will tell you are prevention of diseases and managing your health and well-being.
Exercise and a healthy diet only go so far, and many other factors lie outside the scope of personal control. This limited ability to control our health increases the need for a greater understanding of health and well being. Health trends of the world are pointing towards the globalized economy. It also changes agricultural practices and advancements in transportation and how health care issue crosses global borders.
How can individual medics and physicians serve their part to influence prevention effort in a global arena?
Medics can no longer focus exclusively on their local communities when diseases from across the world can quickly end up in hometown hospitals.
A solution is required for a collective effort from people in a variety of disciplines. It is where the conversation of global health starts.
The initial step is understanding what global health is and how other factors influence the field of medicine.
WHAT IS GLOBAL HEALTH
Global health is a knowledge of health care services in comprehensive and interdisciplinary subjects. It should include the study, research, and practice of all the medicines with an eye on improving health care equity for all the citizens worldwide.
Initiatives under global health take into consideration both disciplines, medical as well as non-medical, like epidemiology, economic disparities, sociology, public policy, cultural studies, environmental factors, etc.
The most prominent agency that focusses on advancing global health is WHO. It is not alone, but lead them all. Leaders and Researchers in various fields are spearheading initiatives that form alliances between historically disassociated fields.
Each of these practices is inextricably connected. By learning and pooling resources for each other, significant progress has been made. It has benefitted humans as well as animals.
MAJOR GLOBAL HEALTH ISSUES TO BE AWARE OF
The biggest challenges confronting organizations such as WHO and the One Health One Medicine Initiative can epitomize the breadth and depth of the complex medical field.
PANDEMICS
Pandemics are global disease outbreaks. Examples of outbreaks include HIV, influenza, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Ebola, and now COVID-19. These viral threats reflect our vulnerability to widespread diseases. Many of these are supposed to be originated from animals. There are newly emerging pandemic threats every year. These cannot be resolved as diagnosing symptoms only occur after an individual is already infected, and has even infected others, too. These issues can be cut off at the source by addressing essential areas like health education, responsible agricultural practices, and the problems that cause viral spread.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
There is a lot of growing concerns over the environment center on climate change and air pollution. These environmental challenges directly affect the health of the human population. Mostly the answer lies in the air, water sources as well as sanitation. When basic survival needs to get disrupted by devastating storms, droughts flooding, and air pollution, diseases are spread across the vast area and then in people. The immediate remedy for this situation is to provide resources like food, sanitation technology, bottled water, and education. But this is not enough. Global health must focus on the prevention of environmental challenges.
Climate change is the greatest threat to human health. Comprehensive policies to mitigate humankind’s contribution to climate change are gaining traction. China, India, the US, and European countries are introducing policies to regulate current vehicular use and household energy consumption while encouraging industrial progress towards environmentally-conscious techniques. The changes will have profound health benefits for those living in urban areas and metros, which are accounted for more than 50 percent of the world’s population.
ECONOMIC DISPARITIES AND ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE
Despite enormous progress in the field of medicine, communities across the world still lack access to primary health care and health education. They even have to face harsh realities in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), high child mortality rates, and essential food and nutrition. All issues can be alleviated by reducing the disparities between the populations. Some of the variations are related to geography, with rural communities facing the most considerable shortage of physicians. Other discrepancies are the result of income inequality, with individuals and families simply unable to afford otherwise unavailable health care.
To solve economic challenges, global health workers must look into the opportunities to uplift communities in public forums, encourage physicians to practice in remote rural areas, and jot down policies to reduce barriers and give access to health and medical care.
POLITICAL FACTORS
Lesser access to health care is exacerbated when international politics enter the mix. Warlike situations within or between nations destroy critical infrastructures like transportation, water, sanitation, and waste. Average citizens is more vulnerable to diseases. This leads to fleeing the dangerous situations that threaten their well-being and take drastic steps. Refugee migration can allow illnesses to spread quickly, but organizations like the WHO stress that the solution is not to isolate groups of people or tribes. Instead, they should focus on improving refugee health care by organizing efforts across borders. They should endorse policies that bridge short-term humanitarian crisis responses with long-term health care access improvements.
NON COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
Cancer, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) sums up 70 percent of deaths happening worldwide. These are attributed to genetic, environmental, physiological, and behavioral factors. Here, education plays a vital role in the prevention of NCDs by helping populations understand the needs and change lifestyle like inactivity, poor diets, tobacco use, or alcohol.
There is a correlation between income level and the prevalence of NCDs. Nearly three-quarters of NCD-related deaths worldwide occur in low- and middle-income countries. Reducing the number of NCDs globally means minimizing the factors that disproportionately arise in lower-income communities.
ANIMAL HEALTH, FOOD SOURCING, AND SUPPLY
Animal health is naturally intertwined with humans’. Perhaps the most transparent connection occurs within the food chain, as humans grow, process, and consume food on a large scale. In developing areas, animals are used for transportation, draught power, and clothing. For these nations, animal health is undeniably a factor in human well being.
Agricultural practices, including pesticide use, irrigation, and waste management, also influences animal health. These also pose disease transmission threat at all the stages of the food chain. With pathogens originating from animals and their products playing such a significant role in disease transmission, veterinary medicine must be included to improve global health.