The document discusses improving global public health through international collaboration. It describes the Global Health Security Agenda created to work with nations and organizations to prevent infectious diseases. Eleven action plans were developed to implement strategies like educating the public on health risks. However, lack of funding is a barrier to properly resourcing programs. Greater investment is needed to address health inequalities and control diseases worldwide in our increasingly interconnected world.

1. Running head: GLOBAL HEALTH: IMPROVING INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH 1
Global Health: Improving International Public Health
Lucious Davis
Kaplan University
HS315-01: Practices in Public Health

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The nations of this world are globalized more than ever before, people are now
extensively traveling and trading internationally. It is more accessible now that international
destinations are the norm. The health inequalities in the world really hinder the progress of
controlling and preventing infectious and noncommunicable disease. The Global Health Security
Agenda was created to operate with all the nations and organizations to work towards the safety
of the world from infectious disease. 11 action plans were presented as Action Packages and
discussed the emphasis of worldwide health awareness. Human immunodeficiency
virus/Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is one of the most well-known
infectious diseases in the world. The Fogarty International Center introduced a strategic plan to
help effectively practice good health care in low-resource settings. They focused on how they
could have different cultures in this organization so that they could challenge every aspect of
global health. Funding is what fuels all these programs but often times the lack of funding deters
these organizations to function properly. This is normally the role of political and religious
influence in these areas. The socioeconomic balance and education in healthcare of these areas
are completely ruled by the government or their religion. Collaboration between the stakeholders
for program success is the factor to expand the operation and create other programs. Global
health plays an increasingly crucial role in global security and the security of the U.S. population
(HHS, 2014). Newly emerging diseases have been identified at an unprecedented rate. It is as
often as every week that an emergence of an infectious disease or health threat somewhere in the
world. We must rapidly identify and control any infectious disease that arises. There is a heavy
interest in the potential global public health threats but it is only now that it has been a
mainstream issue. The evolution of science as well as the advancement of bacteria as it is

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becoming more resistant to modern medicine. Because people are traveling around the world
regularly there is now a greater potential biological threat than in previous generations.
Disadvantaged populations often times have the hardest times actively fighting off
disease. Now that the world is more intertwined than ever, it is important that we help low-
resourced areas. One infectious disease that is widely known is influenza and if not properly
treated it could become deadly. Historical accounts of influenza pandemics and contemporary
reports on infectious diseases clearly demonstrate that poverty, inequality, and social
determinants of health create conditions for the transmission of infectious diseases, and existing
health disparities or inequalities can further contribute to unequal burdens of morbidity and
mortality (Quinn, Kumar, 2014). The Global Health Security Agenda set goals and objectives for
organizations like WHO to address the existing health inequalities throughout the world. We
need to rethink how we handle areas that experience health inequalities by training researchers
and health workers to analyze the data observed and recognize the risk factors of the disease that
affects this population. Proactively getting ahead of inadequate healthcare resources by having
alternative policies will help reduce the spread of disease in low-resourced areas. When they
started this study they evaluated the effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and
population-based health services which is one of the 10 essential services for public health. They
used this to identify that the health disparities in these low-resourced areas were more serious
than in other areas. Putting efforts into properly channeling resources and funding to these areas
could make a great difference in life and death in these areas.
The Global Health Security Agenda was formed to operate with all nations and
organizations to work towards the safety of the world from infectious disease. This agenda is the
implementation of the World Health Organization International Health Regulation 2005 and the

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World Organization for Animal Health Performance of Veterinary Services. In order to
encourage progress toward these goals, the “Action Packages” concept was developed to
facilitate regional and global collaboration toward specific GHSA objectives and targets (CDC,
2014). During the 2014 GHSA Commitment Development meeting countries acknowledged that
eleven action packages were needed to properly implement the GHSA so that we could readily
and actively control and prevent infectious disease. By having this we could properly educate the
public on potential health risk that we face. These Action Packages were used to not only
encourage international governments but non-governmental stakeholders as well. The purpose of
Action Packages were focus on specific targets, highlight approaches countries could adopt to
accelerate and report progress, and provide a sound way for countries to make specific
commitments and leadership roles in the GHSA. Each Action Package includes the relevant five-
year target, an indicator by which to measure progress, desired impact, current country
commitments, five-year action items, and lists of baseline assessment, planning, monitoring, and
evaluation activities necessary to implement the action items (CDC, 2014). This agenda
mobilized community partnerships to identify and solve health problems leading us to the core
function of assurance. This cooperation of all nations and organizations can contribute to an
international focus on educating the public. The GHSA will be forever evolving because science
and disease evolve as well. As long as there is a focus on global health this program can succeed
to properly fight disease as it advances.
Not only does infectious disease play a deadly role in society but noncommincable
disease are some of the most deadly and difficult to control diseases. Global health training and
research can go a long way in the fight on noncomminicable diseases. By having better
incorporation of information technology into research and training we could effectively convert

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scientific discoveries into practice in low-resource areas. The Forgaty International Center
introduced a strategic plan that focused on HIV/AIDS and how we can actively reduce the spread
and a better way to treat those infected by this. Fogarty is the component of the National
Institutes of Health solely focused on supporting global health research and training, and
coordinating international research partnerships across the agency (Puderbaugh, 2014). This
identifies them as a stakeholder in the efforts of global health. With their focus on HIV/AIDS
there were successfully capable of reducing the deaths of those infected however they still saw
an increase in heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and mental illnesses. By using the research
methods of how to tackle HIV/AIDS many of the members felt that this could be a stepping
stone in fighting noncommunicable disease. Fogarty plans to reinvigorate its efforts to train
more developing-country scientists in these new areas of global health, where the field is moving
and where the most interesting discoveries are yet to be made, according to the plan
(Puderbaugh, 2014). If we can get these efforts up and running there is so much good that will
come out of this for global health. Areas of low-resources often will not have the training,
equipment, or staff to effectively treat patients or the public in case of a pandemic. For instance
the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, if that region had the proper training and facilities the
mortality rate of this could be momentously less than it is. As a strong nation in the science and
health field if we could act on our research of such disease by education of those in low-
resourced areas it could greatly benefit them as well as the world. The strategic vision of
Fogarty’s envisioned the advancement to the global health research agenda by building on
investments of the past and present so that they could achieve the way to respond to the changed
landscape in global health. The policy development from this group supported individuals as
well as the world community. Fogart has been a great asset to the global health community by

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providing research training to more than 5000 scientist worldwide since being founded in 1968.
Today, the center funds some 400 research and training projects involving more than 100 U.S.
and foreign universities for scientific collaborations on infectious diseases, chronic conditions,
brain disorders, tobacco, biodiversity and natural products discovery, implementation science,
mobile health and other topics (Puderbaugh, 2014).
The lack of funding has always been a burden for success in the health community. Not
having vaccines, equipment, training, or facilities all factor into this and can also be seen as a
health disparity. In the United States alone, tens of billions of dollars have been spent on
biodefense funding programs to create countermeasures to bioterrorism threats, many of which
may never arise (Kessel, 2014). It is great to prepare for the worst especially in today’s world of
potential biological warfare but why not put a focus on what we are facing now. Public health
has often times taken a backseat to many of the issues that go on, but it is just as important as any
of these issues. Now that people do travel more internationally than ever the risk of infectious
disease has risen and infectious disease has no border. It will infect anyone no matter your race,
gender or age; rather you live a healthy lifestyle or not, infectious disease is a major problem.
Bacteria are evolving, they are becoming more resistant to the modern medicine we have and
without proper funding we will never be able to catch up. Toward this lofty goal, the GHSA has
allocated a mere $40 million for 2014, and next year, it is seeking little more ($45 million)
(Kessel, 2014). Considering that the world is a trillion dollar economy that is awfully low to
effectively fight the ever growing infectious disease problem. Tuberculosis alone has been
shown to infect 8.5 million people and 1.5 million die, a $40 million budget would only put a
dent in trying to fight that alone. Often times with the lack of funding there are religious and
political burdens placed on people leading them to not adequately receive help. In Pakistan, the

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Taliban is impeding the eradication of polio in its areas of influence by resorting to violence and
misinformation to prevent the vaccination of children. Upheaval and population movement in
conflict-rife areas of central Africa are creating living conditions in refugee camps that
encourage the spread of infections (Kessel, 2014). These people aren’t allowed the same benefits
as others would if they lived in the US and Great Britain. Having these issues continues to
further the spread of disease and it doesn’t effectively help the chances of global health security.
If the world can come together they can build programs such as the GHSA that will help tool
nations to properly control and prevent disease.
The health inequalities in the world really hinder the progress of controlling and
preventing infectious and noncommunicable disease. We live in a world where we can be in
Georgia today then Asia tomorrow. The access to other countries are much more easy than the
past making this an interwoven world. We trade internationally with goods and clothes, we travel
internationally and we can spread disease internationally. We have to put forth the effort to
control and prevent disease from spreading so that we have no worries of potential deadly
pandemics. Ebola is one of the most recent ones around and the efforts of controlling this have
impressed me but we must do more. Educate the public, train the healthcare workers and fund
programs and organizations so that they can properly channel the resources to help improve
global health. If you can stop someone from dying in your arms wouldn’t you? This is the case
of the people of the world; we can prevent death and promote healthy living. It all starts now and
I believe there is light at the end.

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References
Quinn SC, Kumar S. (2014). Health Inequalities and Infectious Disease Epidemics: A Challenge
for Global Health Security. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25254915
CDC. (2014). Global Health Security Agenda: Action Packages. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/security/actionpackages.htm
Puderbaugh, A. (2014). NIH center sets new goals for global health research and training.
Retrieved from http://www.nih.gov/news/health/apr2014/fic-29.htm
Kessel, M. (2014). Diagnostics as the first line of defense in global health security. Retrieved
From http://www.finddiagnostics.org/export/sites/default/resource-centre/scientific-
articles/docs/Diagnostics-for-security-Mark-Kessel.pdf
United States Department of Health and Human Services. (2014). Global Health. Retrieved from
http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicId=16