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

Access to healthand conference statements requires states to actually meet anindividual’s water requirements.Global health: the way forwardGlobal health research addresses the ways in whichglobalization is impacting on both health determinants andoutcomes 1 . This is a rather new, but very exciting researchfield. The small number of persons, groups and institutionsthat is tackling this topic is steadily growing. A next step inthis evolution of interest is the recognition that much of theresearch needs to be conducted within a systems context.Global processes, and their health impacts, do not occur inisolation. Many of the modifications of, for example,infectious disease transmission, lifestyles, health care, or foodsecurity are the result of coexistent and often interactingdevelopments. The discussed framework provides valuableinsights in how to organize the various factors involved inaddressing global health. It clearly demonstrates that anintegrated approach is needed, drawing upon the knowledgefrom relevant fields such as epidemiology, sociology, politicalsciences, (health) education, environmental sciences andeconomics. We need to step away from business-as-usualattitudes, sectoral-based solutions and short-term remedies.This will require integrated initiatives organized around thehealth challenges posed by globalization rather than aroundspecific research disciplines or policy sectors.Additionally, global health should concern everybody’shealth. The SARS outbreak demonstrated that when anepidemic threats the affluent countries, the response is fastand well-funded 70 . The current lists of global health prioritiesprimarily focuses on selected conditions around infectiousdiseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis), reflectinghealth-related problems in the developing world that areperceived to threaten the vital interests of industrializedcountries 71 . This illustrates the existing inequalities in powerover agenda-setting on global health, with “dominantinterests framed as globally shared” 1 . We need more researchaddressing the complex linkages between global processesand the multiple disease burdens in the developing world. Asthe geographic scale of important communicable and noncommunicablehealth issues increases, countries areprogressively dependent on each other in establishing goodhealth. Exploring the impacts of globalization requirescapacity building in developing regions and transbordercollaborations between scientists, policy-makers, and otherstakeholders. Global health should be inherently concernedwith reducing the burden of disease in populationsworldwide, and, consequently, with narrowing the 10/90 gapand strengthening research capacity in low-income countries.Additionally, priority setting should not only consider currentdisease burdens and inequities, but must also anticipatepossible global health challenges in the future. ❏Maud MTE Huynen currently works at the International Centrefor Integrated assessment and Sustainable development (ICIS) atMaastricht University. She holds a master’s degree inEnvironmental Health Science and Epidemiology from MaastrichtUniversity. Her current PhD research explores future health in aglobalizing world. She also works on several other projectsexploring the health impacts of global environmental change. In2001–2002, she was the Assistant Editor of the internationaljournal Global Change and Human Health. At the moment, she isa member of the editorial board of the international journalGlobalization and Health. After finalizing her PhD thesis, she willcontinue working at ICIS as a research fellow on topics related toglobal and environmental health.Pim Martens is Director of the International Centre for IntegratedAssessment and Sustainable development (ICIS), MaastrichtUniversity, where he holds the Chair in “SustainableDevelopment”. Professor Martens is project-leader and principalinvestigator of several projects related to sustainable development,globalization, environmental change and society, funded by, amongothers, the Dutch National Research Programme, the UnitedNations Environment Programme and the European Community.He is Executive Editor of the International Forum on Science andTechnology for Sustainability, and co-editor-in-chief of theinternational journal EcoHealth. Finally, Professor Martens is aFulbright New Century Scholar within the programme “Health in aBorderless World” and winner of the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel-Forschungspreis.Henk BM Hilderink is Project Leader at the NetherlandsEnvironmental Assessment Agency (MNP) of the project “GlobalIntegrated Sustainability Model (GISMO)” in which various facetsof sustainable development are modelled, positioned andanalyzed. His research focus is on population and health modellingat various geographical scales. He is the author of the book WorldPopulation in Transition and co-author and project leader of theproject “Long-term population and household scenarios for theNetherlands”. He is a board member of the Dutch Society ofDemography (NVD) and the Population-Environment ResearchNetwork (PERN). He holds a master’s degree in mathematics fromthe University of Nijmegen and a PhD in demography from theUniversity of Groningen.072✜ Global Forum Update on Research for Health Volume 4