Global Health and Sustainable Development Goals

This assignment discusses the critical role of nation states in enhancing global health by addressing key challenges such as food security, access to clean water, and healthcare. It also emphasizes the significance of promoting gender equality and ending poverty to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). The assignment highlights the importance of nutrition education, general health coverage, and sanitation in ensuring healthy lives.

ASSESSMENT TASK 1
PUBH640: GLOBAL HEALTH & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
SUBMITTED BY: WRISHI RAPHAEL
STUDENT ID: S00223730

Answer to Question 1:
The role of nation states in global health is a multi-faceted issue. First world nations like United
Kingdom, USA, Australia, Denmark have made enormous contributions to global health through
donor programs like DANIDA, USAID, AUSAid; or by making financial contributions to international
aid agencies like UNICEF, UNHCR. Less developed nations like Bangladesh support their public health
endeavours with money from taxpayers alongside substantial contributions from international aid
agencies, foundations like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and International NGOs like WaterAid
Bangladesh. Dependence on foreign aid continues to be a feature of all public health initiatives in a
country like Bangladesh where public health challenges can range anywhere between Rohingya
refugee crisis in south east Bangladesh to the recent Chikungunya outbreak in urban populations.
As seen in Szlezak et al. (2010), there are 500 partners which are operating together to eradicate
malaria from the world via the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership. This elevated level of
involvement is encouraging, however Szlezak et al. (2010), suggests that, although World Health
Organization hosts the RBM partnership, WHO does not contribute as a central, authoritative body.
The efforts of the nation states would be better coordinated and have better outcomes if WHO has a
more central role in leading the global community’s efforts to improve health according to Szlezak et
al.(2010). This would also enable nation states to focus on less funded health avenues like non-
communicable diseases. A lot of work is done in fields of communicable disease, however non-
communicable diseases in less developed countries are not receiving as much attention (Beaglehole
R, Ebrahim S, Reddy S, 2007 p. 2152–2157).
The main strength of nation states in global health is their ability to exert their resources and
expertise over any public health challenge of their choosing. The United States plans to help
Bangladesh through USAID in areas of maternal and child health, education and social services
among other projects (USAID, 2017). USAID’s ongoing financial help during the Rohingya refugee
crisis has been equally helpful. However, there is very little in the way of planning or fund raising
when it comes to providing aid for the increasing number of diabetic patients in Bangladesh. The
prevalence of Diabetes in Bangladesh has risen steadily over the years. In 2000 the number of
diabetic patients was more than 3 million which is projected to become more than 11 million by the
year 2030 (World Health Organization, 2018). A weakness of nation states in upholding global health
has been their partial inability to work alongside or under the supervision of World Health
Organization and explore the scope of analysing and implementing health strategies against non-
communicable diseases like diabetes.

References:
1) Szlezak A., Bloom R., Jamison T., Keusch T., Michaud M., Moon S., Clark1 C. (2010). The
Global Health System: Actors, Norms, and Expectations in Transition. PLoS Medicine, 7(1):
e1000183. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000183.
2) Beaglehole R, Ebrahim S, Reddy S. (2007). Prevention of chronic diseases: A call to action.
Lancet, 370: 2152–2157 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61700-0.
3) USAID (2017). U.S. Foreign Aid by country. Retrieved from:
https://explorer.usaid.gov/cd/BGD?implementing_agency_id=1
4) World Health Organization (2018). Country and regional data on diabetes. Retrieved from
http://www.who.int/diabetes/facts/world_figures/en/index5.html

Answer to Question 2
Sustainable Development Goal Number 2 is my first pick which aims to end world hunger by 2030.
Till 2016, 65.6 million people have become forcibly displaced around the world (UNHCR, 2018, para.
1). The plight of refugees cannot be ignored and although many countries have closed their borders
to refugees, a number of countries have chosen to help them. One of the main challenges have been
to meet the nutritional demands of the refugee and that is why ending hunger and achieving food
security should be the top priority of this day and age. A malnourished population can lead to the
emergence of new diseases and eventually a new public health crisis. The nutritional requirement of
a forcibly displaced person can be as high as 2100 Kcal (UNHCR Emergency Handbook, 2017). Not
only does SDG 2 imply that food should be present in abundance, but agricultural research must also
improve to meet that end. The second SDG of choice is SDG 3 which aims to alleviate the global
burden of tuberculosis, Malaria, HIV/AIDS. In a less-developed country like Bangladesh, there were
187, 005 new cases of Tuberculosis in the year 2014 and although success rate of treatment is high,
the prevalence of Multi Drug Resistant TB is also on the rise (WHO, 2018, para.1). The world must
unite to combat TB, Malaria and HIV/AIDS if global health standards are to improve.
The third SDG which will have a positive impact on global health is SDG 6. Potable water and toilets
not only bear an impact on health but also promotes a person’s dignity and basic human rights. The
number of slum dwellers around the world has risen to 2.6 billion people which means this
multitude have no access to potable water and proper toilets. Not only is open defecation a threat
to public health but it is also undignified and unacceptable. The fourth SDG of choice is SDG 1 which
aims to end poverty. No matter how improved facilities become in slums, it is impossible to have a
long-lasting impact on global health unless poverty is fought tooth and nail. If slum dwellers continue
to remain slum dwellers, despite adequate number of toilets and potable water for everyone; public
health challenges related to overcrowding and poor standards of sanitation will continue to bear
heavy on 2.6 billion of the world’s slum dwelling population. The fifth SDG of choice is SDG-5 or
promotion Gender Equality. Even in a developed country like Australia the pay gap between men
and women is 15.3 % (Workplace Gender Equality Agency, 2018) and 83 % of single parent families
in Australia were single mother families in 2012 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). This degree of
disparity should be addressed since the children of single mothers also have the right to a secure
financial future and handouts from the government can never guarantee that.
References:
1] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2018). Figures at a glance. Retrieved from
http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/figures-at-a-glance.html
2] UNHCR Emergency Handbook. (2017). Food security in camps. Retrieved from
https://emergency.unhcr.org/entry/85653/food-security-in-camps

3] World Health Organization. (2018). WORLD TB DAY 2016: Bangladesh continues its battle against
the disease. Retrieved from
http://www.searo.who.int/bangladesh/world-tb-day-2016/en/
4] Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (2018). What is gender pay gap? Retrieved from
https://www.wgea.gov.au/addressing-pay-equity/what-gender-pay-gap
5] Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2016). One Parent Families. Retrieved from
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/6224.0.55.001~Jun%202012~Chapter~one
%20Parent%20Families

Hello Wrishi Raphael, this is a fabulous post, and I concur with your statements.
Nation states play a critical role in enhancing global health. They identify health needs that
require urgent notice and ensure that there is proper allocation of enough funds. They have
emphasized on Food security which is essential in safeguarding an active and healthy life.
Sustainable development relies on environmental, social and economic modification. Goal 4
aims at addressing food availability, food utilization, and food accessibility. Lack of food
accessibility is as a result of lack of sufficient resources. Food utilization is vital in ensuring
that people consume food that improves their health. Nutrition education is crucial as it
makes sure that people are aware of the food that is needed to boost their health (UN
Sustainable Development Summit, 2015)
Goal 3 intends to attain general health coverage and ensure access to safe and
affordable medicines. Goal 6 aims at guaranteeing clean water for drinking to prevent
illnesses and deaths brought about polluted water, (United Nations, 2017). Sanitation helps
keep good health and expand life spans. Goal 1 desires to terminate poverty which is possible
through creating jobs. Attaining this goal is key to ensuring healthy lives.

References
UN Sustainable Development Summit 2015. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2018, from
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/meetings/2015/un-sustainable-development-
summit/en/
United Nations. (2017). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2017
Retrieved from http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/