Global Health
TED talk: " How we'll stop polio for good"
This TED talk was presented by Bruce Aylward in 2011. In this talk, Bruce presented financial, moral, and scientific case for eliminating polio. He told that perhaps we are taking the polio vaccine for granted and have not considered the terrible outcomes of polio epidemic. With the help of global health funding policies and communities, we can remove the problem of polio. He also told that we have to learn lessons from polio and can apply the learned lessons to any of the upcoming horrific disease. He also enabled the listeners to dream about any other TED talk that could be presented decades from now by some unknown scientist telling about the final eradication of the disease (Aylward, ted.com).
Bruce Aylward TED talk was about 30 minutes long in which he talked about the elimination of polio. He told that very few of us think about the polio vaccine as an incredible technology. This technology has completely eliminated the terror of polio from the minds of people because polio not only paralyzed the legs and arms of people, but also make it difficult for the patients to breathe. Polio vaccine is considered as a scientific miracle in the late years of 1950s. Although polio vaccine has changed the lives for better, still polio is a global health problem. It is important to eradicate the virus completely from this world, so that every person can live a healthy life. This is what polio eradication program is trying to do. However, polio eradication is tougher than smallpox eradication in many instances. For example, when polio eradication program started, more than twice as many countries have the problem of polio as compared to the start of smallpox eradication program. Moreover, there were over 10 times more people with the problem in those countries. The biggest difference behind the smallpox and polio is that smallpox patients may start showing symptoms in the form of rash but polio patients don't show any obvious symptoms. So, eradicating polio from the lives of people in the world was a bigger challenge than smallpox. Bruce told that millions of volunteers are working in the eradication of this global health problem but still it needs a lot of work. He noted that about 20 years ago, 1,000 children got the problem of polio every single day, but the problem was reduced with the passage of time and last year it was only 1,000.
Polio eradication program has not only helped in the elimination of polio from many areas of the world but it also helped in many other areas such as the control of pandemic flu and SARS. However, the most heartbreaking aspect of polio is that it attacks poor people, mostly in poor or developing countries, and push them into more poverty. Bruce noted that with the help of smart people, smart investments, and smart technology polio can be eradicated from every part of the world.
I have learned from this talk that in order to have a winning stance, it is important to completely eradicate a global health problem. If a disease remains in any part of the world, it could be considered as a problem. I have also learned that the help of political and traditional leaders could help in complete eradication of polio. I have also learned about some of the toughest areas in the world to meet global health coverage. Those areas include northern India, northern Nigeria, bordering areas of Pakistan, and southern areas of Afghanistan. Smart investment of money and smart use of mind can help in reaching even in these areas.
Webinar: "Best Practices for Creating and Sustaining Communities of Practice for Global Health"
Webinar on the "Best Practices for Creating and Sustaining Communities of Practice for Global Health" was presented by Global Health Knowledge Collaborative in 2013. In this webinar, panelists presented some of the strategies that can provide help in developing and sustaining best practices in health. They talked about the utilization of health care practice for global health. They also discussed the utilization of practices as a cost-effective knowledge and information management tool; solutions as well as challenges faced by communities, and strategies for the evaluation, development, growth, and sustainability of global health (Global Health Knowledge Collaborative, globalhealthknowledge.org).
One of the panelists of the webinar was Sara A. Holtz, who talked about technical exchange networks (TEN) as an information and knowledge sharing tool at the level of organization. Sara noted that TEN can be used to connect global staff and enhance our knowledge about global health. Some of the most important points to discuss to achieve global health include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), maternal newborn child, fragile states, family planning, malaria, good leadership, and gender. Sara noted that it is important for the facilitator to help members of the TEN to talk about the health problems such as sharing knowledge about HIV lab tools. TEN participation can help members to learn best practices, to connect with global colleagues, and to learn from failures.
Angela Nash-Mercado, Sr. Content Manager at K4Health, also presented the information about a health project, Knowledge for Health (K4Health). Mission of the project was to facilitate policy makers and service providers in easily getting the health information. Angela told about a community of practice (CoP), who are people interacting with each other and sharing information. Participating in CoP was helpful in promoting collaboration, solving problems, and share learned lessons. Dynamic electronic communication method was used to support participants throughout the world. This method also include online discussion forums. In order to promote global health, Angela told about family planning agenda.
In the webinar, Rohit Ramaswamy talked about sustaining the global learning through online global network. Rohit told about Center for Global Learning, which is working on the research and practice in novel learning tools and novel teaching methods. It is working on the Global Learning Program (GLP) that is providing a non-degree, analytical, managerial, and operational level of distance learning programs for public health professionals throughout the world. This program is combining instruction and discussion to combine learning with knowledge sharing.
In the webinar, Theresa Norton talked about global programs to work on family planning, thereby working on health care project on global level. Theresa told that global programs including USAID and MCHIP (Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program) are trying to meet the needs for family planning, but still more action is needed to meet the global objectives of family planning. In this case, online global forums can help in program learning and meeting the goal with the help of professional network and access to experts.
TED talk: " World-class health care"
This TED talk was presented by Ernest Madu in 2007. In this talk, Ernest talked about non-communicable diseases such as chronic illnesses including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes with special emphasis on these illnesses in developing countries. He told that his Heart Institute of the Caribbean provided world-class health care at a decreased cost as compared to many institutes in the U.S. He noted that superior technology and smart design are primary elements behind the success of his institute. He also told about the bi-directional innovation in the global health, some of which is producing in the developing world and moving back to the developed world (Madu, ted.com).
Madu's TED talk was about 17 minutes long in which he talked about the world-class health care in the world with the help of better technology and improved design. In the talk, Madu told that most of the health care budget goes to cardiovascular disease care, but in Africa this problem is almost ignored. He noted that about 17 million people die annually from heart diseases, and 32 million patients of heart attack and stroke were reported. Most of those patients are from Africa. He also told that 85% of global health issues for cardiovascular diseases appear in developing countries, but 90% of resources are present in the West. This issue has to be resolved as the treatment of global health problems by increasing the reach of people to world-class health. Madu noted that by the age of 45 to 50 years, people are most productive but chronic health problems hinder their work. Resolution of global health problems is also helpful in decreasing the dependency on foreign aid, and this can be done by self help.
Madu told that one of the most important aspects of global health is to take care of everyone without considering his or her ability to pay for health care services. He also noted that the gap between the rich and poor countries can be filled by the use of education as well as technology. Telemedicine is an important aspect of technology through which experts in medical field can be accessed in any part of the world. Biomedical engineering programs have also to be developed for betterment in global health.
I have learned from this talk that in order to provide global health, it is important to provide world-class health care to the people in different parts of the world. Moreover, it is important to consider that some of the issues are equally important in both the developing as well as developed world, but people sometimes give more attention to patients of developed world but ignore patients of developing world. So, we have to provide equal level of attention to a health problem in all parts of the world. I have also found that increased level of education as well as technology in the field of health can not only help in improving global health but would also improve employment opportunities, which is also helpful in reducing global disease burden.
Works Cited
Aylward, Bruce. "How we'll stop polio for good." TED Talks. 2011. Web. January 03 2016.
Global Health Knowledge Collaborative. "Webinar: Best Practices for Creating and Sustaining Communities of Practice for Global Health." Global Health Knowledge Collaborative. 2013. Web. January 03 2016.
Madu, Ernest. "World-class health care." TED Talks. 2007. Web. January 03 2016.
