Tore Godal And The Evolution Of Global Health

This book is an interconnected history of the evolution of global health in the decades before 2019, told through the prism of six decisive moments in which individuals from the World Health Organization (WHO), philanthropic foundations, academia and bilateral agencies came together to shape the world. These critical junctures are accessed via the life and work of Norwegian immunologist Tore Godal, one of the most influential health physicians of all time. Godal’s career over the past 50 years offers a window into the profound events that have shaped the health and well-being of millions across the globe, including the first free donation of a drug for the treatment of river blindness; the entry of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation into the global health arena with a $750 million start-up grant for GAVI, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization; the 50% reduction in under-five mortality rates this century; the emergence of insecticide bed nets as the cornerstone of WHO malaria control; the rise of maternal and child health on the global political agenda; and the connection between Ebola and the creation of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in 2017. Exploring the ways in which the trajectory of global health has interwoven with the rich life and legacy of Godal, this book is a crucial resource for any reader interested in global health.

The health of human populations around the world is constantly changing and the health profiles of most nations in the early twenty-first century global health landscape are unrecognizable compared with those of just a century ago. This book examines and explains these health changes and considers likely future patterns and changes. While the overall picture charted is one of progress and improvement, certain unfortunate regressions and stubbornly persistent health inequalities are equally shown to be part of the evolving patterns of global health. The chapters of the book are organized in three major parts: The first part introduces readers to the principal concepts of global health, and to the idea of populations having distinctive health profiles. In particular, it explores how those profiles can be measured, and how they change, using the umbrella concepts and theories of epidemiological and health transition. Building on the first section, the second part focuses on the evolution of health states, as well as paying particular attention to the reasons for the many subnational inequalities in global health. It also examines health challenges such as the continuing infectious disease burden and current emerging 'epidemics'. The final part transports readers from the current health scene to future possible and probable health scenarios, acknowledging the challenges presented by global environmental change, as well as issues centred around geopolitics and human security. Using clear and original explanations of complex issues, this text makes extensive use of boxed case studies and international examples, with thought-provoking discussion questions posed for readers at the end of each chapter. Global Health is essential reading for students of global health, public health and development studies.

Global Health Governance and Policy outlines the fundamentals of global health, a key element of sustainable development. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it explores the relationship between the globalization process and global health’s social, political, economic and environmental determinants. It points the attention to the actors and forces that shape global policies and actions with an impact on peoples’ health in an increasingly complex global governance context. Topics discussed include: The relationship between globalization and the determinants of health The essentials of global health measurements The evolution of public health strategies in the context of the global development agenda The actors and influencers of global health governance The role of health systems The dynamics and mechanisms of global health financing and Development Assistance for Health Career opportunities in global health governance, management and policy Looking in depth at some of the more significant links between neoliberal globalization, global policies and health, Global Health Governance and Policy: An Introduction discusses some specific health issues of global relevance such as changes in the ecosystem, epidemics and the spread of infectious diseases, the global transformation of the food system, the tobacco epidemic, human migration, macroeconomic processes and global financial crisis, trade and access to health services, drugs and vaccines, and eHealth and the global "health 4.0" challenge. Written by a team of experienced practitioners, scientists and teachers, this textbook is ideal for students of all levels and professionals in a variety of disciplines with an interest in global health.

Perhaps no other public policy issue has greater potential to affect some of the most significant economic, political, social, and ethical changes of the 21st century than global health. In this book, a scholar/physician team authors a comprehensive introduction to global health issues and emphasises the potential of public health intervention to improve the longevity and quality of human life across the globe. The authors have lived and worked in Africa as well as in medically underserved areas of the United States, so they write with firsthand experience and authority. Using themes of interconnectedness, globalisation, and united concern from citizens, this book encourages readers to consider the role that they might play as engaged citizens in taking on the global public health challenges of the 21st century including everything from AIDs and flu to tobacco, obesity, and threats in conflict zones.

Chronicles the expanding global effort to confront public health challenges. Since the year 2000, unprecedented resources have been committed to the complex challenge of developing global public health solutions by national governments, multilateral organizations, and civil society groups. This vast global movement is one of the most remarkable political phenomena of twenty-first-century international relations—but is it working? In The Rise of Global Health, Joshua K. Leon argues against the conventional wisdom, which argues that collective action on development issues—including controversial increases in foreign aid—is too inherently inefficient to succeed. Leon shows that public action on a global level can successfully pursue health equality. Often at the behest of grassroots activists, these disparate groups of actors are cooperating more than ever with the aim of improving our human potential through better health. Though operating at cross purposes with unequal trade agreements and other factors within the global economy harming the Global South, we learn something surprising about global health governance—it is evolving in ways more efficient than we think.

This is the first full-length biography of New York surgeon and social activist Stephen Smith (1823–1922), who was appointed to fifty years of public service by three mayors, seven governors, and two U.S. presidents. The book presents the complex life of Stephen Smith, a consistent figure in the history of public health, mental health, housing reform in New York, and even urban reforestation. Utilizing Smith’s writings, public records, and recently discovered personal correspondence, this research shows how Smith succeeded where others failed. It also acknowledges that Smith was unsuccessful in convincing his fellow professionals to fight for a cabinet level public health department or to resist the rise of custodial care for the mentally impaired. Given Smith’s many accomplishments, the book asks us to consider if what stopped him stops us, highlighting the relevance of Smith’s story to contemporary debates. Pestilence, Insanity, and Trees is a readable and well-documented narrative and a resource for students and scholars, filling gaps in the history of American medicine, public health, mental health, and New York social reform.

The history and philosophy of scientific ideas and the role poiēsis and imagination play in our understanding of science and progress are widely explored in this book. By examining the views of William Blake and other poets in the context of twentieth-century philosophers Hannah Arendt, Jacob Bronowski, Martin Heidegger, Bruno Latour and Karl Popper, amongst others, the book takes an eclectic approach drawing on examples from biology, history, literature, philosophy and economics, arguing for the reestablishment of imagination as a central attribute of science that may help to resolve some of our most pressing ecological problems as seen in the context of science and technology studies and what is loosely developing into the discipline of environmental humanities. Today, influential scientists looking at consciousness dismiss imagination regarding it at best as a mere epiphenomenon, a ghost in the machine, or at worst non-existent and to be denied. In this book, Keith G. Davies, who sees C. P. Snow’s debate on the separation of the arts and sciences as alive and well, traces the schism back to Plato but more importantly to the seventeenth century and David Hume’s removal of imagination in the conjunction between our observation of causes and their effects. Through extensive research and use of poetry, this book offers an alternate understanding of science with imagination and its continued significance in today’s world. This book is an excellent reference book for postgraduate students, professional researchers, William Blake scholars and the pejoratively labelled interested laymen with concerns in ecology and environmental humanities through offering a new perspective on the history of science and the role of imagination within this field.

Global health is at a crossroads. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has come with ambitious targets for health and health services worldwide. To reach these targets, many more billions of dollars need to be spent on health. However, development assistance for health has plateaued and domestic funding on health in most countries is growing at rates too low to close the financing gap. National and international decision-makers face tough choices about how scarce health care resources should be spent. Should additional funds be spent on primary prevention of stroke, treating childhood cancer, or expanding treatment for HIV/AIDS? Should health coverage decisions take into account the effects of illness on productivity, household finances, and children's educational attainment, or just focus on health outcomes? Does age matter for priority setting or should it be ignored? Are health gains far in the future less important than gains in the present? Should higher priority be given to people who are sicker or poorer? Global Health Priority-Setting provides a framework for how to think about evidence-based priority-setting in health. Over 18 chapters, ethicists, philosophers, economists, policy-makers, and clinicians from around the world assess the state of current practice in national and global priority setting, describe new tools and methodologies to address establishing global health priorities, and tackle the most important ethical questions that decision-makers must consider in allocating health resources.