ASB 100, Introduction to Global Health

Introduction to Global Health is a course that focuses on understanding the changing global context of public health. In order to understand population health, socioeconomic changes, demographics changes and global environmental changes must be evaluated. The integration of these components can be seen as a human-ecology perspective, where health outcomes are directly dependent on policy sectors. This class allowed me to learn more about how to describe, measure and track illness using epidemiology language and tools. I was also exposed to the evolutionary approach to understand why we get sick and its effect on contemporary global health problems. Another important area explored were the effects of poverty and inequality on people as key factors for stress and illness. I also studied the role of prejudice and education gap in the creation of policy regulations.

As a grand challenge scholar, I was interested in taking this class to learn more about environmental justice, which involves the protection of minority and low-income populations from receiving unequal share of pollution and the study of why there is unequal distribution. I learned new urban environment designs that can directly impact the health of people. Gaining a global dimension is critical when working with across cultures. Each country and culture will define health differently. We should situate and act according to the values of a culture and understand where problems come from to tack them from the root. Clinicians should also evaluate the way patients define health. Sometimes when there are health complications, there is usually a gap between the clinician and the patient's world view. Overall, I was able to explore both the roots of main public health issues like socioeconomic inequalities and consumption patterns that affect the sustainability of health, as well as the efficient policies applied in developed countries to promote health care equality.

In terms of the GCSP work, this course has helped me gain a better understand of the way healthcare system is provided not only in the United States but also in other countries around the world. The class consisted of discussion posts and two main projects. The most meaningful projects of ASB 100 was to create a budget proposal on how we would spend $100 billion addressing global health issues. In order to create a meaningful proposal, we had to develop a philosophy and a list of the most meaningful values for us. After researching and studying global health priorities, I found key to reduce obesity in all ages caused by a sedentary lifestyle, decreasing cardiovascular diseases in adults, reducing the number of diabetes cases in all populations, increasing awareness on family planning, and decreasing the number of disability caused by anxiety, depression, among others. My focus was on developing healthy lifestyles that promote less sedentary lives to decrease obesity, cardiovascular diseases and mental health problems. I believe that a well-informed and motivated populations will be able to have a better quality of life.

The second part of this assignment was to evaluate the efficiency of our plan towards the end of the class after learning the diverse complications and inequalities in global health. My proposal consisted of education programs to provide proper tools to overcome diseases and conditions that can be treated by having a healthy lifestyle. Alongside, some funding would be spent on research dedicated diagnose, treatment and cure of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. In order to guarantee quality of life, we need to promote long-term prevention training in minority populations, especially adults and elder people. As I developed a funding plan, I had to consider how each component would affect the population and their feasability. This assignment allowed me to question and explore current global health challenges that need to be addressed to better the quality of life of individuals. I was also able to learn more about project management, as I applied a budget to tackle a health challenge.