Lecture 1 – Introduction

- How is the term "global health" defined? Why is this field important today?
- How do common health metrics vary between and within countries?
- How does the COVID-19 pandemic reflect broader global health issues?

Duke Global Health Institute:
- about achieving better health outcomes for vulnerable populations and communities around the world
- those who study or practice in this field work to eliminate health disparities in low-resource settings around the world through research, education, and collaborative intervention

Richard Horton, Editor, Lancet:
- an attitude, a way of looking at the world
- about the universal nature of our human predicament
- a statement about our commitment to health as a fundamental quality of liberty and equity

- non-infectious diseases are common in wealthier countries
-- heart disease is the leading cause of death in high-income countries

- continued high risk of poor infant and maternal health outcomes & infectious disease are common in lower-income countries
-- neonatal conditions and lower respiratory infections are leading cause of death in low-income countries

gone down over time in high income countries, but still pretty stagnant in low-income countries

Afghanistan, Nigeria, Russia, Ecuador, the US, Italy, Singapore

a measure of the average number of years an individual within a certain population is expected to live at birth, if mortality remains constant

lowest to highest:
- MS, MO, and CA

- living conditions and resource access (e.g., food, sanitation, clean water, healthcare)
- war and social upheaval
- disease outbreaks
- cultural factors (e.g., dietary and activity patterns, care available for older adults, etc.)

(highest to lowest):
- the US (16.9%), Afghanistan (9.4%), Italy (8.7%), Ecuador (8.1%), Russia (5.3%), Singapore (4.5%), Nigeria (3.9%).

- current health expenditure measures the proportion of healthcare spending in a country relative to the size of its economy (i.e., higher percentage = more spent on healthcare)

- part of a larger pattern: novel infectious diseases (e.g., HIV/AIDS) and drug resistant infections (e.g., tuberculosis) have been health concerns for decades
- infectious disease are often complex which makes them difficult to treat

- the history of global health
- health as a human right
- health definitions and measurements
- social determinants of health
- health transitions and inequities
- past disease control successes and failures
- current global health challenges