tailieunhanh - The Challenge of Global Health

Fewer fish exacerbate the declines in walrus and seal populations. Overall, there is less food available for the Yupik Eskimos of the Arctic who rely on all of these species. Global climate change is thus a significant addition to the spectrum of envi- ronmental health hazards faced by humankind. The global scale makes for unfa- miliarity—although most of its health impacts comprise increases (or decreases) in familiar effects of climatic variation on human biology and health. Traditional environmental health concerns long have been focused on toxicological or microbiological risks to health from local environmental exposures. However, in the early years of the twenty-first century, as the burgeoning human impact. | The Challenge of Global Health Laurie Garrett BEWARE WHAT you WISH FOR Less than a decade ago the biggest problem in global health seemed to be the lack of resources available to combat the multiple scourges ravaging the world s poor and sick. Today thanks to a recent extraordinary and unprecedented rise in public and private giving more money is being directed toward pressing heath challenges than ever before. But because the efforts this money is paying for are largely uncoordinated and directed mostly at specific high-profile diseases rather than at public health in general there is a grave danger that the current age of generosity could not only fall short of expectations but actually make things worse on the ground. This danger exists despite the fact that today for the first time in history the world is poised to spend enormous resources to conquer the diseases of the poor. Tackling the developing world s diseases has become a key feature of many nations foreign policies over the last five years for a variety of reasons. Some see stopping the spread of HIV tuberculosis tb malaria avian influenza and other major killers as a moral duty. Some see it as a form of public diplomacy. And some see it as an investment in self-protection given that microbes know no borders. Governments have been joined by a long list of private donors topped by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett whose contributions to today s war on disease are mind-boggling. Laurie Garrett is Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of Betrayal of Trust The Collapse of Global Public Health. 14 The Challenge of Global Health Thanks to their efforts there are now billions of dollars being made available for health spending and thousands of nongovernmental organizations ngos and humanitarian groups vying to spend it. But much more than money is required. It takes states health-care systems and at least passable local infrastructure to improve public .