What is global health as a career

6 Comments

Premature mortality

Global health deals with the health of populations in a global context. It looks at global health problems and issues in a global context instead of problems and issues of individual nations or regions. The proposed definition of global health by Jeffrey P. Koplan, Christopher Bond, Michael H. Merson, Srinath Reddy, Mario Henry Rodriguez, Nelson K. Sewankambo, Judith N. Wasserheit is the area of study of health of all people across the globe that prioritizes the improvement of health and health equity for all. Global health is concerned with different health issues. Some of these are the health of the populations, health and medicine in international context and health and economy, also in international context. At present, there are several international agencies that are concerned with global health. These are the World Health Organization, UNICEF, World Food Programme and the World Bank.

Global health programs and degrees are also offered by many universities and educational institutions today. Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, for example, offers global health degree courses to students who are interested in global health. Tulane University has seven academic department that makes their global health degree programs one of the best in the country. The university has global community health and behavioral sciences department, epidemiology department, tropical medicine department, biostatistics and bioinformatics department, global environmental health sciences department and global health systems and development department. The university is also focused on global health research and their global health degree undergraduate and graduate programs are also research intensive.

If you are interested in a career in global health, you should start with an undergraduate global health degree, Bachelor of Science in Public Health. Then you can purse global health degree programs leading to Master of Public Health, Master of Science in Public Health, Master of Health Administration or Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. And to further your career in global health, you may also want to take up academic and professional doctoral global health degrees, such Doctor of Philosophy or Doctor of Public Health or Doctor of Science.

Not all universities or educational institutions have the same focus in their global health degree programs. As such it is best to choose the right school that you think would give you the right training in global health. One way to find the right school is to look at the rate of post graduate employment. This will show you the percentage of graduates who find employment within the year after completing their global health degree. You are interested in global health and as such know the importance of your contribution. It is best therefore to find a school that has high rate of post graduate employment. Another thing to consider is the focus of the university or institution. Some schools are more focused on research for example. It is best therefore to find a school that meets you area of academic interest. Finally, look for a school that offers the right support to the students. Good references here.

6 Replies to “What is global health as a career”

  1. My son wants to pursue a career in global health. I just cannot see the practical side of it. Where will he work? They cannot all go to WHO or UNICEF.

  2. As good as it may sound, I feel the same way because this is what my kid is taking up now. I wonder why he did not just take up medicine or something similar.

Leave a Reply