Question

Cooperating to improve Global Health , but what, in your opinion, do you think is the best solution?

How do we make these projects sustainable? Lastly, is there a specific region you would focus on?

Answer 1

Global health is the health of populations in the global 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". Global health is about worldwide health improvement (including mental health), reduction of disparities, and protection against global threats that disregard national borders. Global health is not to be confused with international health.

Cooperating to improve global health:

There are a number of reasons why different sectors cooperate in global health activities and why such cooperation is in everyone’s interest. Although health is an extremely important issue for both individuals and societies, it does not always receive the political, economic and financial support that it should. For example: there is lack of attention by many countries to nutrition, despite the poor nutritional status of their people. The impact is more higher if they collaborate and work together. A similar issue is that in case to reduce the burden of communicable diseases. Individual countries may have little incentive to take the measures needed to effectively address some communicable diseases, despite the fact that the spread of these diseases does not respect national boundaries. Therefore this requires cooperative efforts across countries to deal with these issues. It is important for all countries to work together and monitor the disease prevalence and approaches to deal with them. Cooperation to achieve better global health outcomes can also take place in assisting the financial health efforts in poorer countries. Richer countries can help the less privileged countries financially.  

5 ways to sustain cooperation in global health:

• Outline the benefits of shared investment: When the public and private sectors are working together, make a clear shared purpose and the potential benefits for each investing organization.

• Catalyze the political conversation: When statistics, case studies and project outlines on issues such as maternal health and endemics are done in a country it is to better inform politicians and other decision-makers and increase the likelihood of further investment.

• Demonstrate impact: If a clear plan and laying out evidence of previous impact is presented and showing how project funding is being spent, its expected outcome, and evidence of previous successful investments, businesses, corporations and even governments are potentially more likely to invest.

• Perfect communication: Smaller amounts of information should be delivered more often and to a much wider audience will be helpful. Organizations need to be more effective in showing the tangible impact of their work if they want to generate a positive response to funding.

• Engage at the local level: The commitment of countries to invest in health is really critical and should be demanded by international donors.