Top Global Health Priorities

Global health aims at achieving equity and enhancing the health of individuals worldwide. Ebola, Zika virus, and refugees/migrants are identified as top global health priorities impacting the world today. Each of these priorities has its own implications and ways of curbing them.

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Top Global Health priorities
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According to (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017), Global health is the way
of viewing the health of a particular population or region in a global context. It further defines
global health as part of the study that puts much emphasis on achieving equity as well as
enhancing the health of individuals worldwide. It aims at reducing the political and economic
disparities that emerge as a consequence of the global health (UN Chronicle, 2014).
There are several global health priorities that impact on the world greatly. Several studies
have been conducted in the past in regards to the global health in a bid to identify the various
global health that should be given more priority than the other. Some of the priorities identified
in these studies include Ebola. A research conducted by (Sarathi Kalra, 2014) shows that it was
first experienced in remote villages of West Africa in the 1970s. The disease leads to deadly
hemorrhage syndrome among the affected persons. The outbreak of the disease results to fear as
well as economic instability. Initially, Ebola was perceived to be a great threat to the population
of West Africa only but this is no longer the case. With the emergence of modern global
transport systems, Ebola is now a threat to the whole world. This is because it can be easily
transmitted from one continent to another by use of the flight system.
Another top global health priority is the Zika virus as discussed by (Center for Disease
Control and Prevention, 2017) as well as (Nathe, 2018). Zika virus is one of the strongest viruses
as it has the ability to affect the macrophages which are the immune cells in a person’s body. A
research conducted by (Heather Buschman, 2018) reveals that the virus stunts the development
of the neonatal brain in pregnant women which then results to the birth of babies with
abnormally small heads. The virus was first tested in Uganda but later spread to various other

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places such as Asia and America. Like Ebola, the Zika virus poses a great challenge to the globe
as it is a communicable disease that can easily be spread through the travel systems.
Lastly, (Nathe, 2018) lists refugees and the migrants as another top global health priority.
According to (Nathe, 2018), in every group of seven people, one person is always moving. This
translates to mean that at least 1 billion people are migrating at a given moment. By this, the
migrants, as well as the refugees, face different challenges that range from health care
inaccessibility, language differences, and different cultural practices among many others. In most
cases, people are made to move from one place to another due to reasons such as war, famine,
genocide, to seek employment and also education. As such, the impacts of the refugees and the
migrants on the global health will remain hence the need to come up with ways to solve the
implications of the migrants and refugees.
In conclusion, global health is taking a certain health issue and viewing it from a global
perspective and further trying to seek remedies to the implications of the given health issue.
There are several global health issues as discussed above. These include the Zika virus, Ebola,
refugees and migrants among many others. Each of these global health priorities has its own
implications as well as ways of curbing them (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017).

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References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Top Global health priorities. global health
priorities, 1-24.
Heather Buschman, P. (2018, September 10). Zika Virus Strips Immune Cells of their Identity.
Retrieved from health.ucsd.edu: https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2018-09-10-
zika-virus-strips-immune-cells-of-their-identity.aspx
Nathe, M. (2018, January 19). Global Health Issues to Watch in 2018. Retrieved from
intrahealth.org: https://www.intrahealth.org/vital/10-global-health-issues-watch-2018
Sarathi Kalra, D. K. (2014). The Emergence of Ebola as a Global Health Security Threat: From
‘Lessons Learned’ to Coordinated Multilateral Containment Efforts. journal of global
infectious diseases, 164-177.
UN Chronicle. (2014). Priority Agenda for the 21st Century. Global Health, 1-2.