Topic 1
Defining international or global health is important and some consider global health synonymous with public health. Select one of the following two statements:
1. Global health is public health requiring similar training and research methods.
2. Global health is a separate discipline requiring specific training and research methods.
Identify at least two arguments that support the selected statement and provide sources to support those arguments. Identify and discuss one historical event that is important in how global health is understood today and how that event supports your argument. For one of your substantive responses, identify another classmate that selected the opposite statement and provide at least one point of agreement and one point of disagreement.
TOPIC 2
Poverty is central to health and development in low-income and middle-income countries. State your definition of poverty prior to studying public health. Based on this definition, what would be the focus of poverty alleviation solutions? Based on the relational and spiritual definition of poverty, discuss how the focus of solutions would change to include a holistic approach. Identify an example of a health program or solution that integrates a relational definition of poverty. Watch the video on “Defining Poverty” to help in responding to this discussion question.
Topic 3
Review the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, then evaluate the following statement by Katja Iversen, CEO of Women Deliver: “The SDGs are not a menu, they are a roadmap. We need to ask ourselves: Who can we do this with, and who does this affect?”
Discuss the difference between a roadmap and menu in reference to the SDGs and why a roadmap analogy makes more sense. In your response, reference at least two different goals between Goals 4 and 17 that are connected to health. Additionally, identify two key targets for reaching Goal 3 and why you think these are critical. Discuss two actions you could take to help make progress toward reaching the SDGs as a global society. Refer to the United Nations’ “The Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World” in the topic Resources.
Topic 4
Visit “Global: Both Sexes, All Ages, 2016, DALYs” on the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation GBD Compare Data Visualization Hub website. Compare the primary causes of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from countries in two different sociodemographic index levels or economic regions. Identify three social or political-economic differences that help explain the differences you observed. Discuss the utility of the disability-adjusted life year (DALY) measure as a composite measure of health. Why is the DALY helpful given the different categories of Communicable, Noncommunicable, and Injury when it comes to comparing mortality and morbidity?
Topic 5
Controlling infectious diseases is part of public health practice. Review approaches to prevention, control, and the obstacles that low-income and middle-income countries endure. Vaccines are a critical part of health, but health care systems are impacted by globalization. Some countries do not have surveillance systems in place that allow determining need. Provide an example of how globalization has impacted South America or sub-Saharan Africa. What three pieces of advice would you give the Minister of Health in countries of South America or sub-Saharan Africa when it comes to the integration of health care and public health (i.e., vaccines)?
Topic 6
Macroeconomics of a country depicts the health of the population. There have been many outbreaks and pandemics of infectious diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), H5N1 avian influenza, H1N1 swine influenza, Ebola, and COVID-19 or of noncommunicable diseases. How have these outbreaks or pandemics directly and indirectly affected national and global economies? Explain how national and international health care systems have handled the outbreak. How have they differed in their methods? In what ways have the economies and the health care systems impacted each other during these outbreaks? Provide at least three examples that depict the risk factors for disease
Topic 7
Diseases that disproportionately affect the poor are typically prioritized by governments and donors. Some people believe that disorders such as depression are problems of the middle class and the affluent, or represent a “medicalization of misery,” and, therefore, do not deserve a share of scarce resources. What is the evidence linking poverty with mental disorders? How might poverty interact with mental health?
Topic 8
Global health initiatives are often pivotal in the advancement of human rights. When addressing global public health issues, international organizations have a responsibility to develop policies and practices that support marginalized groups’ basic human rights. Policies that affect a woman’s reproductive and sexual health can be contradictory of the basic human right if it challenges the moral imperative of creating conditions that allow women to decide freely and responsibly on the number, spacing, and timing of their children or the ethical obligation to ensure equitable access to contraceptive options and safe reproductive service. This can become increasingly more of an issue when conditions arise that affect a woman and her unborn child, such as Zika virus.
Discuss your interpretation of the right to health. Explain how policies that affect a women’s sexual and reproductive health may be impacted by the introduction of a virus. Discuss the policies that countries impacted by Zika have developed around women’s sexual and reproductive health. Do any of these policies violate a woman’s right to health? Discuss if the global public health threat of Zika is severe enough to limit sexual and reproductive rights and freedoms. Conversely, is the threat of Zika-associated fetal anomalies sufficient to change existing restrictive laws and policies?
TOPIC 9
Availability, affordability, and safe and effective use are the main challenges to improving pharmaceutical access. In what ways have global health initiatives had positive and negative impacts on medicine access? Does this affect global health security? Why or why not?
TOPIC 10
Trade has been an integral part of society since prehistoric times. It exists not only as a basis for the economy in a global market but ingrained in culture. However, trade can pose controversies in global health as health organizations try to balance sustainable community health strategies in economically and culturally diverse communities. Do you think that global health policies on trade are necessary to build community capacity and ultimately support the health of the community? Assess how a populations needs are met by discussing how trade can positively impact a community’s health. Provide two examples of goods or services as support. In contrast, discuss how trade can negatively impact a community’s health, providing support using two examples of goods or services.
Topic 11
Discuss three of the nine Sphere Core Humanitarian Standards. Identify the one that you think is most often neglected in the case of natural disasters or humanitarian emergencies such as natural disasters, violence, war and vulnerable human settlements. Discuss characteristics of humanitarian emergencies in your response. Share a real example of how these standards were (or were not) applied in a recent humanitarian crisis.
Topic 12
As the number of international migrants grows globally, the need for access to public health services continues to rise. This dilemma is causing a complex humanitarian issue to become a reality for many countries. Review the World Health Organization’s draft global action plan “Promoting the Health of Refugees and Migrants.” Discuss the roles and responsibilities of international organizations in providing health support for refugees and migrants. Compare these to the roles and responsibilities of governmental agencies. Why would a country benefit from being a member of an international organization when dealing with humanitarian crises? What role should the faith-based community fulfill when supporting the needs of the migrant community?
Topic 13
As the number of international migrants grows globally, the need for access to public health services continues to rise. This dilemma is causing a complex humanitarian issue to become a reality for many countries. Review the World Health Organization’s draft global action plan “Promoting the Health of Refugees and Migrants.” Discuss the roles and responsibilities of international organizations in providing health support for refugees and migrants. Compare these to the roles and responsibilities of governmental agencies. Why would a country benefit from being a member of an international organization when dealing with humanitarian crises? What role should the faith-based community fulfill when supporting the needs of the migrant community?
Topic 14
The Ministry of Health of a lower-income country has decided to institute a national nutrition surveillance system to monitor the country’s most pressing child and maternal nutrition problems. The surveillance system should incorporate the micronutrient deficiencies that affect the population, and account for people at different life stages, socioeconomic, and geographic groups’ vulnerabilities to individual nutrient deficiencies. As a health professional working for the ministry, provide your professional summary for a selected lower middle income country, of the nutritional problems, target groups, approaches to assessment, options for routine contact in the community, and types of agencies to organize into a surveillance system to guide the ministry. Discuss ways in which single-micronutrient deficiency prevention strategies might be combined, integrated, or coordinated to achieve cost-effective control. Describe the roles of general rations, supplementary feeding programs, and therapeutic feeding programs in maintaining population nutrition.
Topic 15
Think about the need for shelter, food, potable water, sanitation, health care, and other service provisions as a country endures a complex emergency (war, civil conflict, and political violence). What is the role of international, national, nongovernmental organizations, military, and other humanitarian actors in humanitarian aid, relief, and response? Why are commercial interests a conflict and can compromise public health? Provide an example of a complex emergency and lesson learned that has emerged in the last 10 years.
Topic 16
After viewing “Poverty Inc” located in the topic Resources, discuss how responding to complex emergencies impacts one of the servant leadership principles. As a servant leader, explain the balance between capacity-building and supporting the local community. Reflecting on your responsibilities as a public health partner, how is your professional role impacted by the limitations of humanitarian aid? Discuss the line between helping and hurting the community.