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Global Health

Population Health Field
Globe with a Cross

The branch of public health concerned with the health of populations worldwide rather than within any single country. The World Health Organization's Health Promotion Glossary of Terms 2021 defines it as achieving health equity at a global level by addressing the transnational health issues, determinants, and the interventions and formal structures which are beyond the control of the institutions of individual countries. Its scope therefore reaches cross-border threats such as pandemics alongside the worldwide distribution of the conditions that shape health, and its defining commitment, on the WHO's framing, is that equity in health belongs to all people worldwide.

Facts
Central Question
How can the transnational determinants of health be addressed so that people everywhere, regardless of the country they live in, can attain equity in health? 1
Key Debate
A single university-based research institute, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, now produces the Global Burden of Disease estimates that guide much global health funding and policy, a role historically associated with the World Health Organization itself; whether an independent academic institute or the United Nations health agency should be the authoritative source for global health statistics is a live institutional debate. 2
Key Debate
Global health is widely regarded as having grown out of the colonial era international health tradition, and scholars have called for its decolonization, describing the field's own ecosystem as functioning like a feudal structure serving a small group of high income country institutions. 3
Key Debate
Global health's own defining methodological dispute is whether limited funding should run vertically, targeted at single diseases with easily measured results, or horizontally, strengthening the general health systems that every disease-specific program ultimately depends on. Vertical programs are easier to fund and to show dramatic results from, but critics hold that they create parallel funding and management structures, distort national health priorities and do little to strengthen the overall health system, which in turn has been blamed for slow progress on health goals such as maternal and child mortality that depend on strong general services. A proposed diagonal approach, pursuing disease-specific goals by means that also strengthen the wider health system, has been offered as a reconciliation, but the underlying tension over how global health money should be spent remains unresolved. 4
Connections

Associated With

Source PAHO: Central America Conquers an Exotic Vector
Source PAHO: A Global Strategy to Eliminate Yellow Fever Epidemics (EYE) 2017-2026
Source PAHO/WHO: EMTCT Plus Framework document (2017)
Source END Fund, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Global Alliance for Rabies Control
Source Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Global Malaria Eradication ProgrammeWikipedia contributors
Source Wikipedia: Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases
Source Wikipedia: Global Polio Eradication InitiativeWikipedia contributors
Source Wikipedia: Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic FilariasisWikipedia contributors
Source Wikipedia: Guinea Worm Eradication ProgramWikipedia contributors
Source WHO Fact Sheet: Trypanosomiasis, Human African (Sleeping Sickness)
Source PMC: Welcome to Implementation Science (Eccles and Mittman, 2006)
Source infontd.org: ITI International Trachoma Initiative (InfoNTD)
Source Jhpiego, Wikipedia
Source WHO: South-East Asia Poised to Defeat Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala-azar)
Source Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, Wikipedia
Source London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, Wikipedia
Source WHO Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination - The Partnership
Source Wikipedia: Measles & Rubella PartnershipWikipedia contributors
Source National Leprosy Eradication Program - Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Onchocerciasis Control ProgrammeWikipedia contributors
Peter Piot, Figures

Peter Piot, co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, was the founding Executive Director of UNAIDS from 1995 to 2008.

Source Wikipedia: Rotary International
Source Wikipedia: Health Emergencies Programme

The paper's definition is credited with marking global health's naming shift away from the older term international health.

Source The Lancet: Towards a Common Definition of Global Health (Koplan et al., 2009)
Source Unlimit Health (Wikipedia)
Source Sightsavers (Wikipedia)
Source cdc.gov: The Global Polio Eradication Initiative Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) Program (MMWR)
Source reports.cartercenter.org: The Carter Center At a Glance
Source The Leprosy Mission (Wikipedia)
Source The Task Force for Global Health (Wikipedia)
Source WHO Western Pacific: Baseline Report 2018 on Triple Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, Hepatitis B and Syphilis in Asia and the Pacific
Source WHO: A Cervical Cancer-Free Future, First-Ever Global Commitment to Eliminate a Cancer
Source WHO, Ending the neglect to attain the SDGs, a road map for NTDs 2021-2030
Source World Chagas Disease Day (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: World Hepatitis DayWikipedia contributors
Source World NTD Day - Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: World Rabies Day

In Branch

Source Health Promotion Glossary of Terms 2021

Includes

Source Wikipedia: Brock Chisholm
Source Wikipedia: Christopher J.L. Murray
Source Wikipedia: Expanded Programme on Immunization
Source Wikipedia: Gro Harlem Brundtland
Source Wikipedia: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
Peter Piot, Figures
Source Wikipedia: Peter Piot
Source The Lancet: Towards a Common Definition of Global Health (Koplan et al., 2009)
Source Resolve to Save Lives: Dr. Tom Frieden Biography
Sources
1. Health Promotion Glossary of Terms 2021
World Health Organization, 2021
  • Entry: Global health
    Achieving health equity at a global level by addressing the transnational health issues, determinants, and the interventions and formal structures which are beyond the control of the institutions of individual countries.
  • In Branch: Public Health, Entry: Global health, scope
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
Wikipedia
  • Lead section
    The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is a public health research institute of the University of Washington in Seattle.
  • Includes: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
View the Source
3. Wikipedia: Global Health
WikipediaHistory section
Quote, History section
Global health as a discipline is frequently regarded to be of imperial origin, and there have been calls for its decolonisation.
View the Source
4. The diagonal approach to Global Fund financing: a cure for the broader malaise of health systems? (Ooms et al., 2008)
Globalization and Health (BioMed Central), 2008Background section, opening
Quote, Background section, opening
The potentially destructive polarisation between vertical and horizontal financing of health services in developing countries has found its way to the pages of Foreign Affairs and the Financial Times.
View the Source
LSHTM Website
London School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineAssociated With: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Introducing LSHTM, global health researchView the Source
Wikipedia: Expanded Programme on Immunization
WikipediaIncludes: Expanded Programme on ImmunizationView the Source
Wikipedia: Christopher J.L. Murray
WikipediaIncludes: Christopher J. L. MurrayView the Source
Resolve to Save Lives: Dr. Tom Frieden Biography
Resolve to Save LivesIncludes: Resolve to Save LivesView the Source
The Lancet: Towards a Common Definition of Global Health (Koplan et al., 2009)
The Lancet
  • Includes: Publication of Towards a Common Definition of Global Health
  • Associated With: Publication of Towards a Common Definition of Global Health
View the Source
PMC: Welcome to Implementation Science (Eccles and Mittman, 2006)
Implementation Science (BioMed Central), via PubMed CentralAssociated With: Implementation ScienceView the Source
Wikipedia: Health Emergencies Programme
WikipediaAssociated With: Public Health Emergency PreparednessView the Source
Wikipedia: Global Malaria Eradication Programme
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Global Malaria Eradication Programme
Wikipedia: Global Polio Eradication Initiative
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Global Polio Eradication Initiative
Wikipedia: Guinea Worm Eradication Program
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Guinea Worm Eradication Program
Wikipedia: Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis
Wikipedia: Onchocerciasis Control Programme
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Onchocerciasis Control Programme
Wikipedia: Measles & Rubella Partnership
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Measles & Rubella Partnership
WHO: A Cervical Cancer-Free Future, First-Ever Global Commitment to Eliminate a Cancer
World Health Organization, 2020Associated With: WHO Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer, Page text
Quote, Associated With: WHO Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer, Page text
WHO‘s Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer, launched today, outlines three key steps: vaccination, screening and treatment.
View the Source
Jhpiego, Wikipedia
Associated With: Jhpiego, Lead section, countries sentence
Quote, Associated With: Jhpiego, Lead section, countries sentence
Jhpiego works in over 38 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Brock Chisholm
WikipediaIncludes: Brock Chisholm, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Brock Chisholm, Lead section
George Brock Chisholm (18 May 1896 - 4 February 1971) was a Canadian psychiatrist, medical practitioner, World War I veteran, and the first director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO).
View the Source
Wikipedia: Gro Harlem Brundtland
WikipediaIncludes: Gro Harlem Brundtland, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Gro Harlem Brundtland, Lead section
After the end of her term as PM, Brundtland was then elected Director-General of the World Health Organization in May 1998.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Peter Piot
WikipediaIncludes: Peter Piot, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Peter Piot, Lead section
On 12 December 1994, he was appointed executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Assistant-Secretary-General of the United Nations.
View the Source
Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, Wikipedia
Associated With: Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, Lead section
The Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases is a global health project that aims to mobilise political and financial resources for the control and eradication of infectious diseases, the so-called neglected tropical diseases.
View the Source
World Chagas Disease Day (Wikipedia)
Associated With: World Chagas Disease Day, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: World Chagas Disease Day, Lead section
World Chagas Disease Day is observed on April 14 to raise awareness around Chagas disease, a neglected tropical disease present mostly in Latin America.
View the Source
Sightsavers (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Sightsavers, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Sightsavers, Lead section
Sightsavers is an international non-governmental organisation that works with partners in developing countries to treat and prevent avoidable blindness, and promote equality for people with visual impairments and other disabilities.
View the Source
Wikipedia: World Hepatitis Day
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: World Hepatitis Day, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: World Hepatitis Day, Lead section
World Hepatitis Day, observed on July 28 every year, aims to raise global awareness of hepatitis, a group of infectious diseases known as hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E, and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
View the Source
The Leprosy Mission (Wikipedia)
Associated With: The Leprosy Mission, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: The Leprosy Mission, Lead section
The Leprosy Mission (TLM) is an international and inter-denominational Christian medical organisation focused on the treatment and eradication of Hansen's disease, commonly known as leprosy.
View the Source
The Task Force for Global Health (Wikipedia)
Associated With: The Task Force for Global Health, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: The Task Force for Global Health, Lead section
The Task Force for Global Health is an international, nonprofit organization that works to improve health of people most in need, primarily in developing countries.
View the Source
London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, Wikipedia
Associated With: London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, Lead section
It was inspired by the World Health Organization roadmap to eradicate or prevent transmission for neglected tropical diseases by the year 2020.
View the Source
Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative, Wikipedia
Associated With: Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative, Lead section
The Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative (GBUI) is a World Health Organization (WHO) initiative to coordinate global efforts to control Buruli ulcer, an infectious disease characterized by the development of painless open wounds.
View the Source
World NTD Day - Wikipedia
Associated With: World NTD Day, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: World NTD Day, Lead section
World NTD Day or World NTD (Neglected Tropical Diseases) Day is an awareness day for addressing neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
View the Source
END Fund, Wikipedia
Associated With: END Fund, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: END Fund, Lead section
The END Fund (Ending Neglected Diseases) is a private non-profit organisation dedicated to combating the five most common neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that cause up to 90% of the NTD burden in Sub-Saharan Africa.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Global Alliance for Rabies Control
WikipediaAssociated With: Global Alliance for Rabies Control, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Global Alliance for Rabies Control, Lead section
The Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) is a non-profit organization that aims to eliminate deaths from canine rabies by 2030.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases
WikipediaAssociated With: Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Lead section
The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases is an advocacy initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute dedicated to raising the awareness, political will, and funding necessary to control and eliminate the most common Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), a group of disabling, disfiguring, and deadly diseases affecting more than 1.4 billion people worldwide living on less than $1.25 a day.
View the Source
Unlimit Health (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, Lead section
Unlimit Health (previously known as SCI Foundation and as the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative) is an international organisation working to end parasitic disease.
View the Source
Wikipedia: World Rabies Day
WikipediaAssociated With: World Rabies Day, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: World Rabies Day, Lead section
World Rabies Day is an international awareness campaign coordinated by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control, a non-profit organization with headquarters in the United States.
View the Source
WHO: South-East Asia Poised to Defeat Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala-azar)
World Health Organization, 2015Associated With: Kala-azar Elimination Programme, Page text
Quote, Associated With: Kala-azar Elimination Programme, Page text
The 10 209 new cases reported in 2014 represents a 75% decrease from 2005 when the Kala-Azar Elimination Programme was launched. “ Achieving a drop of 85% in mortality is impressive, ” said Dr Daniel Argaw Dagne, Head of the Leishmaniasis Control Programme at WHO’s Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. “ What is more impressive is that Nepal, having eliminated kala-azar at district level, has been able to sustain the gain for the past 2 years.
View the Source
PAHO: A Global Strategy to Eliminate Yellow Fever Epidemics (EYE) 2017-2026
Pan American Health Organization / World Health OrganizationAssociated With: Eliminate Yellow Fever Epidemics Strategy, Page text
Quote, Associated With: Eliminate Yellow Fever Epidemics Strategy, Page text
This document describes the reasoning behind and need for an updated, long-term (2017-2026) and global strategy to “Eliminate Yellow fever Epidemics” (EYE).
View the Source
WHO Western Pacific: Baseline Report 2018 on Triple Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, Hepatitis B and Syphilis in Asia and the Pacific
World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific, 2018Associated With: Triple Elimination Initiative for HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B in Asia and the Pacific, Page text
Quote, Associated With: Triple Elimination Initiative for HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B in Asia and the Pacific, Page text
The Regional Framework for the Triple Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, Hepatitis B and Syphilis in Asia and the Pacific 2018-2030 upholds the vision that every infant should be free of HIV, hepatitis B and syphilis.
View the Source
WHO, Ending the neglect to attain the SDGs, a road map for NTDs 2021-2030
Associated With: WHO Road Map for Neglected Tropical Diseases 2021-2030, Page text
Quote, Associated With: WHO Road Map for Neglected Tropical Diseases 2021-2030, Page text
The road map sets global targets and milestones to prevent, control, eliminate or eradicate 20 diseases and disease groups as well as cross-cutting targets aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.
View the Source
PAHO: Central America Conquers an Exotic Vector
Pan American Health OrganizationAssociated With: Central American Initiative for Chagas Disease Control, Page text
Quote, Associated With: Central American Initiative for Chagas Disease Control, Page text
As a result, in 1997 three initiatives were established into one, the Initiative of the Countries of Central America and Belize for Interruption of Vector-borne Transmission of Chagas disease by R. prolixus , Reduction of Household Infestation by Triatoma dimidiata , and Elimination of Transfusional Transmission of T. cruzi (IPCA).
View the Source
PAHO/WHO: EMTCT Plus Framework document (2017)
Pan American Health Organization / World Health OrganizationAssociated With: EMTCT Plus Initiative, Page text
Quote, Associated With: EMTCT Plus Initiative, Page text
The objective of the EMTCT Plus initiative is to achieve and sustain the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, Chagas, and perinatal hepatitis B (HBV)
View the Source
National Leprosy Eradication Program - Wikipedia
Associated With: National Leprosy Eradication Program, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: National Leprosy Eradication Program, Lead section
National Leprosy Eradication Program is a health scheme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India to eradicate leprosy in India.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Rotary International
WikipediaAssociated With: PolioPlus, Article text
Quote, Associated With: PolioPlus, Article text
In 1985, Rotary launched its PolioPlus program to immunize all of the world's children against polio.
View the Source
infontd.org: ITI International Trachoma Initiative (InfoNTD)
infontd.orgAssociated With: International Trachoma Initiative, Page text
Quote, Associated With: International Trachoma Initiative, Page text
ITI collaborates with governmental and nongovernmental agencies at the local, national and international levels to implement the WHO-recommended SAFE strategy for trachoma control (Surgery; Antibiotics-using donated Zithromax®; Facial cleanliness; and Environmental improvement).
View the Source
cdc.gov: The Global Polio Eradication Initiative Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) Program (MMWR)
cdc.govAssociated With: Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) Program, Page text
Quote, Associated With: Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) Program, Page text
With the declaration of polio eradication as a programmatic emergency by the World Health Assembly in 2012, the number of STOP volunteers deployed increased from 90-120 per year during 1999-2011 to 287 in 2012 and 371 in 2013 ( Figure ); the number of volunteer person-months in the field per year increased from 273 in 1999 to 1,456 in 2012.
View the Source
WHO Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination - The Partnership
World Health OrganizationAssociated With: Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination Initiative, Page text
Quote, Associated With: Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination Initiative, Page text
The definition of Neonatal Tetanus (NT) elimination as a public health problem is having less than one NT case per 1000 live births in every district per year.
View the Source
WHO Fact Sheet: Trypanosomiasis, Human African (Sleeping Sickness)
World Health OrganizationAssociated With: Human African Trypanosomiasis Elimination Programme, Page text
Quote, Associated With: Human African Trypanosomiasis Elimination Programme, Page text
Overview Human African trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, is a vector-borne parasitic disease.
View the Source
reports.cartercenter.org: The Carter Center At a Glance
reports.cartercenter.orgAssociated With: The Carter Center, Page text
Quote, Associated With: The Carter Center, Page text
A nongovernmental organization, the Center has helped to advance peace and health in more than 85 countries.
View the Source
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