CMH 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: World Health Organization, Global Health, Tobacco Control
Global Health and Globalization
Health
• Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the
absence of disease (WHO, 1946)
o World Health Organization founded in 1946
o Access to clean water, basic sanitation, and hygiene are crucial to health
Public Health
• The science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through the
organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations (public and private),
communities, and individuals (Winslow, 1920)
o The development of social machinery that will ensure a standard of living
o Education
o Every citizen has the right to health
Global Health
• An area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health ad
achieving equity in health for all people worldwide. Global health emphasizes transnational
health issues determinants and solutions; involves many disciplines within and beyond the
health sciences and promote interdisciplinary collaboration. And is a synthesis of population-
based prevention with individual level clinical care (Koplan, 2009)
o The emerged discipline of global health must work on major global health challenges,
with a focus of interdependence
Goal of Global Health
• To promote population health, safety, and well-being at local and global levels, as well as
eliminate health and social disparities worldwide.
What is Global Health
• Not limited to health issues that cross international borders
• Global – refers to any health issues that affect multiple countries
• The following are all examples of global health problems
o Climate change
o Urbanization
o Tobacco control
o Obesity
o Injury prevention
o Micronutrient deficiencies
• Refers to the scope of the problems, not the location
Globalization
• The result of the closer integration of economies, driven by the decreasing cost of distance
o The result of the event of new technology
▪ Created new means of communication and transportation
▪ Made the time required to cover a certain distance shorter
• Between the 1500s and 1840 transportation occurred via horse-drawn coaches and ships
o Prior to this, people were limited to walking on foot
• The first wave of globalization (1870) commenced with the development of railways,
steamships, and the telegraph
o All of which reduced the cost of distance
o Capable of travelling at a rate 3 times that of the previous methods of transportation
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