3 Reasons You Should Engage In Global Health In 2021

If global health wasn’t on your radar before 2020, it certainly will be now. After all, in this past year, we’ve witnessed coronavirus spread across the globe, with more than 97 million cases in 191 countries.

But what do we mean by ‘global health’? There are multiple proposed definitions, but the common theme is improving health and health equality for all people worldwide.

Pandemics are just one part of this — here are 3 other global health topics that should be on your radar.

1. Air pollution: how breathing results in 233 million years of life lost across the world each year

What’s got a loss of life expectancy greater than tobacco smoking?

Air pollution.

It has wide-ranging health consequences, from enhancing the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, to increasing risk of miscarriage. In London alone, 2 million people live in areas which exceed legal limits for air pollution, contributing to 9000 premature deaths per year. How can we tackle this? Thankfully, it’s been shown that much of the loss of life expectancy is preventable — up to 80–85% in USA and China. However, achieving this is in the hands of campaigners and policy makers worldwide.

Air pollution results in 233 million years of life lost annually. Source: pixabay

2. The fight for reducing health inequalities is far from complete

Continuing with air pollution, there’s a massive imbalance between exposures in low- and middle-income countries, versus higher income countries. In 2015, New Delhi had a 6x greater particulate matter than London. Air pollution mortality is dominated by East Asia, followed by South Asia, and Africa. What’s being done to address this disparity? Well, campaigns such as ‘BreatheLife’ work with cities worldwide to promote clean air practices — here’s their website if you want to investigate further!

Inequalities exist not only between countries, but within them too. A recent example of this is poorer health outcomes in ethnic minority populations during the coronavirus pandemic. Meta-analysis on data from the UK and US highlighted that compared to those of White ethnicity, Asian and Black ethnic groups were more likely to be infected by coronavirus, and Asians were also at increased risk of death. Why is this?

Studies have shown that it’s largely down to structural inequalities: occupation, where people live, and education, to name a few. Ethnic minority individuals are more likely to be employed as essential workers in jobs with greater exposure to others, are disproportionately affected by difficulties finding affordable, quality housing, and affected by barriers to high-quality education, which influences future occupation. Only by addressing these structural inequalities, can these disparities be targeted.

Ethnic minority individuals are more likely to be employed as essential workers in occupations with greater exposure to people, increasing risk of coronavirus infection. Source: pixabay

3. The ‘post-truth era’: the challenge of achieving public trust and engagement in healthy behaviours when misinformation is everywhere

How many of us have disputed with someone over ‘fake news’? Tackling the uncontrolled spread of misinformation and reduction of trust in public institutions has been named as one of WHO’s urgent health challenges for the 2020s. The dangers can be seen as surges in vaccine-preventable diseases: in 2019, over 100,000 measles cases were recorded in Europe, and over 1000 in the US. This was a result of declining MMR vaccine uptake, which itself is strongly linked to a strengthened anti-vaccine movement. How are these views spread?

Social media is a big one, and studies show strong distinctions in viewpoints of individuals who use it as a key news source, versus those who don’t. A UK based study found that 41% of the UK general public thought anti-vaccine campaigners were stupid, but this dropped to 27% when surveying those using Whatsapp or Youtube as their key sources of coronavirus information. Coordinated action needs to be taken to prevent the spread of false information.

Spread of misinformation is eroding public trust and challenging engagement in health campaigns. Source: pixabay

So how can we as medical students combat this plethora of global health issues? On a higher level, global cooperation and policy making is key. As individuals, exploring and learning about global health issues is a great starting place. In this blog, we aim to do just that, and we’ll be exploring topics relating to global health each week — it would be great for you to join us!

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About the author

Jessy Zhang is a fourth year medical student at University of Cambridge, with interests in healthcare inequality, policy, and mental health. In her free time, she enjoys baking, reading and travelling!

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