Stick to the Basics of Global Health
Hello and welcome to the global health video class. My name is Dr. Elvira Beracochea from Realizing Global Health —where we work with partners, donors and development organizations to develop sustainable, reliable and self-reliant health systems everywhere. What we want is to make sure that everybody everywhere every day gets quality health care. Today, we are going to talk about the basics of global health.
As a whole, global health is a very complex issue but for most people the best approach is to stay with the basics. If you understand the basics then you are going to be just fine. The most important thing, as a famous American writer, Henry David Thoreau, once said is to: “Simplify, simplify, simplify.” Our lives are filled with little details so it is important to stick to the basics in global health.
In global health, there are 7 elements you have to keep in mind. Everything you do will affect one of those seven elements. How these elements interact with each other is going to be the topic of future global health video classes.
First, you have to understand how health systems work. Health systems have a certain structure in order to work. Once you understand that, then you will be able to influence how the health system works. The way that the health system works is through programs—which we call vertical programs. Then vertical programs are translated into services that are delivered to facilities. Who works in the facilities? Doctors, nurses, community health workers and other allied health professionals. So we have to make sure that the health system, health programs, health facilities and health providers are all working together. For that reason, we need to have good governance. Good health governance means to have a system in place to make sure that all elements are working smoothly and that everyone is accountable so we can measure results. In this way we can continue improving and developing the health system. Finally, the two most important elements of global health are the community we are serving and the stakeholders. Everyone belongs to some constituency that is going to work to improve the health system. So we have to make sure that those 7 elements work together.
We are going to be talking more about these 7 elements in future video classes. Please send us some comments or email so we can send you what we call the Anatomy of a Global Health System. This chart shows the different levels of the health system. This will be your guide to understand how to work in global health and how to improve the quality of healthcare worldwide. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter so we can help you make a bigger impact in global health. Keep moving forward!
