October and November have  provided two  significant meetings

The World Health Summit 2009

On Sunday October 18th, 2009, Summit President Prof. Detlev Ganten declared the closure of a highly successful summit. With over 1,000 delegates from more than 70 countries,

see  http://www.worldhealthsummit.org/

T his event was rapidly upstaged by the double billing  (Clinton and Gates at the Global Health  Summit in New York  last week see

http://www.time.com/time/2005/globalhealth/

Wouldn’t it be nice if we lived in one world whatever you call it  and worked together. Some say I’m just a dreamer… but am I the only one ?

 A significant event in Global Health was the  Ministerial Forum on Research for Health held at Bamako, Mali in November 2008 .  Ministers and health officials from 59 governments and international agencies met at the end of four years of preparatory work to decide  for action on “research for  health”

They agreed on  fixed percentages of their budgets being  allocated to research for health. Such research was  specifically described as that  outside the health sector but which has a major effect on health. In particular the role of social and economic research which impacts the health status of a population 

see   www.bamako2008.org

Global health is diificult to define and can be used in slightly different contexts. It is often described as  “health issues that trancend national boundaries”.  It may be considered to differ from International Health in that it covers all countries and regions of the world. The EU is an international forum but is regional not global. The term “global” is often linked with the concept of” globalisation”. This developed from  the  economic and social interconnectedness of the modern world. Communication technology and access to travel have helped develop the globalisation of our way of life.

These factors have impacted very significantly on the health field. Migration of healthcare workers, the spread of HIV and the rights of governments to  produce generic medicines while still under patent are examples.

The study of global health  often focuses on the social , cultural and economic  determinants of health rather than the clinical or medical aspects.

The barriers to  universal access to healthcare can determine  the health status of a particular community. These barriers can be social, cultural or economic and the disparity in health status between rich and poor can reflect these constraints.

The Millenium Development Goals (MDG) address many of the inequalities seen in Global Health and related areas.  see  www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Though considerable progress has been achieved in  this regard it is unlikely that these goals will be met, particularly in Sub Saharan Africa where the need is greatest and life expectancy the lowest in the world.

Ireland has played a significant role in the   global effort to reach the  goals and to improve the status of global health. At the end of 2008 Ireland was ranked the fifth largest contributor to  Global development on a per capita basis. It remains to be seen how this changes as the economic  changes begin to take effect.

Ireland was the first country in the world to introduce a nation wide ban on smoking in public places which has been  greatlysupported by the population. The global significance of this development can be appreciated by the fact that 10% of all deaths worldwide are smoking related. The World Health Organisation has introduced a global convention to  control the use of tobacco worldwide see  http://www.who.int/fctc/  Ireland has shown that a small country can give a lead to other countries to change the fate of those less fortunate.  It is hoped that others will similarly give an example of interventions to improve health which can encourage others