Combining health and social protection measures to reach the ultra ...

Access to health
and conference statements requires states to actually meet an
individual’s water requirements.
Global health: the way forward
Global health research addresses the ways in which
globalization is impacting on both health determinants and
outcomes 1 . This is a rather new, but very exciting research
field. The small number of persons, groups and institutions
that is tackling this topic is steadily growing. A next step in
this evolution of interest is the recognition that much of the
research needs to be conducted within a systems context.
Global processes, and their health impacts, do not occur in
isolation. Many of the modifications of, for example,
infectious disease transmission, lifestyles, health care, or food
security are the result of coexistent and often interacting
developments. The discussed framework provides valuable
insights in how to organize the various factors involved in
addressing global health. It clearly demonstrates that an
integrated approach is needed, drawing upon the knowledge
from relevant fields such as epidemiology, sociology, political
sciences, (health) education, environmental sciences and
economics. We need to step away from business-as-usual
attitudes, sectoral-based solutions and short-term remedies.
This will require integrated initiatives organized around the
health challenges posed by globalization rather than around
specific research disciplines or policy sectors.
Additionally, global health should concern everybody’s
health. The SARS outbreak demonstrated that when an
epidemic threats the affluent countries, the response is fast
and well-funded 70 . The current lists of global health priorities
primarily focuses on selected conditions around infectious
diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis), reflecting
health-related problems in the developing world that are
perceived to threaten the vital interests of industrialized
countries 71 . This illustrates the existing inequalities in power
over agenda-setting on global health, with “dominant
interests framed as globally shared” 1 . We need more research
addressing the complex linkages between global processes
and the multiple disease burdens in the developing world. As
the geographic scale of important communicable and noncommunicable
health issues increases, countries are
progressively dependent on each other in establishing good
health. Exploring the impacts of globalization requires
capacity building in developing regions and transborder
collaborations between scientists, policy-makers, and other
stakeholders. Global health should be inherently concerned
with reducing the burden of disease in populations
worldwide, and, consequently, with narrowing the 10/90 gap
and strengthening research capacity in low-income countries.
Additionally, priority setting should not only consider current
disease burdens and inequities, but must also anticipate
possible global health challenges in the future. ❏
Maud MTE Huynen currently works at the International Centre
for Integrated assessment and Sustainable development (ICIS) at
Maastricht University. She holds a master’s degree in
Environmental Health Science and Epidemiology from Maastricht
University. Her current PhD research explores future health in a
globalizing world. She also works on several other projects
exploring the health impacts of global environmental change. In
2001–2002, she was the Assistant Editor of the international
journal Global Change and Human Health. At the moment, she is
a member of the editorial board of the international journal
Globalization and Health. After finalizing her PhD thesis, she will
continue working at ICIS as a research fellow on topics related to
global and environmental health.
Pim Martens is Director of the International Centre for Integrated
Assessment and Sustainable development (ICIS), Maastricht
University, where he holds the Chair in “Sustainable
Development”. Professor Martens is project-leader and principal
investigator of several projects related to sustainable development,
globalization, environmental change and society, funded by, among
others, the Dutch National Research Programme, the United
Nations Environment Programme and the European Community.
He is Executive Editor of the International Forum on Science and
Technology for Sustainability, and co-editor-in-chief of the
international journal EcoHealth. Finally, Professor Martens is a
Fulbright New Century Scholar within the programme “Health in a
Borderless World” and winner of the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel-
Forschungspreis.
Henk BM Hilderink is Project Leader at the Netherlands
Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP) of the project “Global
Integrated Sustainability Model (GISMO)” in which various facets
of sustainable development are modelled, positioned and
analyzed. His research focus is on population and health modelling
at various geographical scales. He is the author of the book World
Population in Transition and co-author and project leader of the
project “Long-term population and household scenarios for the
Netherlands”. He is a board member of the Dutch Society of
Demography (NVD) and the Population-Environment Research
Network (PERN). He holds a master’s degree in mathematics from
the University of Nijmegen and a PhD in demography from the
University of Groningen.
072✜ Global Forum Update on Research for Health Volume 4