Global health is the health of the populations in the worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problems that transcend national borders or have a global political and economic impact are often emphasized. Thus, global health is about worldwide health improvement (including mental health), reduction of disparities, and protection against global threats that disregard national borders, including the most common causes of human death and years of life lost from a global perspective.
Global health is not to be confused with international health, which is defined as the branch of public health focusing on developing nations and foreign aid efforts by industrialized countries.
One way global health can be measured is through the prevalence of various global diseases in the world and their threat to decrease life expectancy in the present day. Estimates suggest that in a pre-modern, poor world, life expectancy was around 30 years in all regions of the world (mainly due to high infant mortality). Another holistic perspective called One Health can be used to address global health challenges and to improve global health security.
The predominant agency associated with global health (and international health) is the World Health Organization (WHO). Other important agencies impacting global health include UNICEF and World Food Programme (WFP). The United Nations system has also played a part in cross-sectoral actions to address global health and its underlying socioeconomic determinants with the declaration of the Millennium Development Goals and the more recent Sustainable Development Goals.
Definition
Global health employs several perspectives that focus on the determinants and distribution of health in international contexts.
Medicine describes the pathology of diseases and promotes prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Public health emphasizes the health of populations. Epidemiology helps identify risk factors and causes of health problems. Demography provides data for policy decisions.< Economics emphasizes the cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit approaches for the optimal allocation of health resources. Other social sciences such as sociology, development studies, psychology, anthropology, cultural studies, and law can help understand the determinants of health in societies.
Both individuals and organizations working in the domain of global health often face many questions regarding ethical and human rights. Critical examination of the various causes and justifications of health inequities is necessary for the success of proposed solutions. Such issues are discussed at the bi-annual Global Summits of National Ethics/Bioethics Councils.
History
Global health as a discipline is widely acknwoledged to be of imperial origin and the need for its decolonisation has been widely recognised. The global health ecosystem has also been criticised as having a feudal structure, acting for a small group of institutions and individuals based in high-income countries which acts similar to an imperial "Crown". Some key leaders of the decolonising global health movement are Seye Abimbola and Madhukar Pai.
Important steps were taken towards global co-operation in health with the formation of the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank Group in 1945, after World War II. In 1948, the member states of the newly formed United Nations gathered to create the World Health Organization. A cholera epidemic that took 20,000 lives in Egypt in 1947 and 1948 helped spur the international community to action. The WHO published its Model List of Essential Medicines, and the 1978 Alma Ata declaration underlined the importance of primary health care.