Global health

I. Match the words/phrases to their definitions

life expectancy accustomed to sitting or taking little exercise
preventable increase or spread at a rapid rate
noncommunicable disease maladaptive pattern of use of a drug, alcohol or other chemical agent
infectious restriction of freedom of movement of apparently well individuals
sedentary the number of years that an individual is expected to live
substance abuse an infectious disease that cannot be transmitted from one person to
another
quarantine a disease capable pf being transmitted from person to person
proliferation capable of being kept from happening

II. Listen to the recording and fill in the gaps with the suitable words/phrases. Do not write more than
TWO WORDS.

1. The majority of the countries experience a growth in __________.

2. A high percentage of child mortality is due to __________.
3. Most deaths can be attributed to __________.
4. An increase in __________ is one of the risk factors of NCDs.
5. Developing or developed countries can’t always provide __________.
6. Worldwide health challenge can be caused by __________.
7. The spread and mutating of viruses makes __________ the sick difficult.
8. A __________ is hard to be coordinated with so many organizations.
9. WHO is funded by two major donors to tackle __________ issues.
10. Three of the Millennium Development Goals are __________.

III. Read the text and fill in the gaps with the words/phrases given. There are TWO EXTRA words you do
not need to use.

objectives; life expectancy; pandemic; global health; vaccines; challenges; trend; initiatives

Global Health Then and Now

The world has become steadily healthier over the past one hundred years, but new challenges are on the
horizon.
Between 1918 and 1919, an influenza 1. __________ swept the world. It infected one-third of the world’s
population and killed between fifty million and one hundred million people—about five to ten times as many
people as died in World War I. In the United States alone, the flu killed at least 675,000 and made U.S. 2.
__________ fall by twelve years.
Global health has made enormous progress in the past one hundred years, thanks to better science and
more funding.
The flu is just one example. The short story is that the current scientific understanding, resources, and
technology—from new 3. __________ to better health facilities—can better tackle more diseases affecting an
even greater number of people.
But many of these gains are the result of 4. __________ becoming an international priority. The focus on global
health—now overtly linked to national security, economic prosperity, and climate change—has become a 5.
__________ in international development. New organizations and funding focused on global health have
steadily grown. Hundreds of different governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), international
organizations, governments, funds, and 6. __________ —such as the Gates Foundation, Doctors Without
Borders, and the World Health Organization —now work on these issues. For example, Gavi, a vaccines-focused
public-private partnership, has vaccinated 690 million children in less than twenty years since its founding.

IV. Visit the following website and collect information about what Global Goal 3 is about. Work in groups
and decide what you consider the most pressing issue regarding health. Elaborate a program to address
the problem.

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/global-goal-3-good-health-and-well-being/

V. Read the text and fill in the gaps with the missing parts of the sentences. There are TWO EXTRA
sentence parts that you do not need to use
 A. child mortality and maternal health
B. dedicated to tackling global health problems
C. delivering vaccines to these countries
D. funding hasn’t caught up with the need
E. had access to antiretroviral therapy
F. health gains haven’t been uniform
G. increase in infectious diseases worldwide
H. providing better health care for those in need
I. rise of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)
J. the questions surrounding how best to treat

The number of deaths from infectious diseases has shrunk significantly.

For thousands of years, smallpox ravaged parts of the globe, killing about one-third of those who caught it. But
better science led to a new vaccine, which, combined with funding and political will, resulted in the official
eradication of the disease in 1980. As recently as 1967, two million people died from smallpox in just one year;
now, no one does.
Polio has almost been eradicated too, although not entirely. Just thirty years ago, polio was common in 125
countries. Today, it’s endemic to just three: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Polio persists in large part
because of the difficulty in 1. ___, either for geographical reasons—many people live in rural areas or move
around frequently—or for political reasons, such as local mistrust of Western NGOs.
Despite a century of progress, infectious diseases remain a lingering threat. And global 2. ___.
Important progress has been made in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS. Deaths from HIV/AIDS have been
nearly halved in just ten years. New HIV infections have also fallen, and in 2017, about twenty-one million
people with HIV 3. ___— up significantly from just eight million in 2010. But nearly forty million people still
live with HIV/AIDS, the vast majority of them in Africa, despite the largest coordinated effort to counter an
epidemic in modern times.
Nor are these gains permanent.
Maternal and infant deaths have declined extraordinarily since 2000, when 4. ___ became priorities for the
Millennium Development Goals. Since then, governments, NGOs, and private partners have invested in more
programs, such as sex education, nutrition, and pre- and postnatal care, that help mothers and babies stay
healthy. More families also have access to better clinics and trained health professionals. But after years of
declining, maternal mortality is rising in the United States—the only industrialized country where that is the
case—particularly among Black women.
While a century of progress can’t be discounted, the world continues to face health challenges.
In fact, a major health crisis is upon us—the deadly, infectious disease COVID-19, which spread across six
continents at light speed.
Meanwhile, the world is combating the 5. ___. Heart disease is now the biggest killer in the United States—it
causes one in every four deaths. This statistic mirrors a global trend. In 1990, just three out of the top seven
causes of death worldwide were NCDs; by 2015, that number had grown to six out of seven. Worldwide, 73
percent of all deaths now result from NCDs.
But new kinds of diseases bring new challenges—not only to people affected by them but also to the web of
organizations and governments 6. ___. For example, most people ultimately die due to an NCD, but most global
health funding doesn’t target NCDs. Because NCDs are a relatively new challenge that are often correlated with
lifestyle factors—including rising income—and require longer-term care and treatment, 7. ___. Moreover,
infectious diseases are often a more attractive intervention area for donors: a specific, quantifiable problem that
can be targeted in a more straightforward fashion, such as with a vaccine or mosquito nets.
8. ___ NCDs and how to tackle other emerging health challenges are emblematic of a shift occurring in the
global health field: the idea that health is about more than just doctor visits and vaccinations. In fact, a range of
issues—including poverty, gender equality, systemic racism, and climate change—affect a person’s health and
their vulnerability to NCDs. Advances in these related areas mean progress in global health too.

VI. Listen to the recording and choose the best option from A, B or C.

1. Noncommunicable diseases
A. can cause premature death.
B. are curbed by immunizations.
C. are increasing in modern world.

2. In Mexico,
A. a national emergency has been declared.
 B. the most serious NCD is diabetes.
C. there has been an increase in lifespans.

3. Globalization and urbanization have

A. resulted in high rates of obesity and NCDs.
B. caused positive changes in the food system.
C. promoted global trade and investments.

4. The Mexican government

A. introduced free health care for uninsured citizens.
B. imposed taxes on unhealthy foods and beverages.
C. had to face resistance from proponents of globalism.

5. The initiatives of the Mexican government

A. have decreased the rate of NCDs.
B. have been welcomed by health experts.
C. stand as a good example worldwide.

VII. Get information about the four global diseases on the following website:

https://www.globalization101.org/global-diseases/

Prepare a program which can help decrease the cases of one of the four global diseases.

VIII. Read the text and put the paragraphs in the right order.

The World Bank tracks UHC with a measurement called the UHC service coverage index. This index finds
that in countries with functioning national health-care systems, which score high on the index, health
outcomes are broadly similar, with high life expectancy and low infant mortality rates; the opposite is true of
those that score low on the index. In fact, twenty-one years of life expectancy separate citizens of countries at
the bottom of the index from those at the top.
Experts say that the best way to improve health outcomes is actually simple: ensure that people have access to
quality health care. Universal health coverage (UHC) is the ability of all people to go to a doctor for
preventive care or when they are sick, and then be able to pay for it.
In the last decade, more people have gained access to crucial health services such as immunization, HIV
antiretroviral treatment, family planning, and bed nets to prevent malaria. This is good news, but progress has
been uneven: wide gaps exist in the availability of services not only among countries but also within them. On
any given day, half the world’s population cannot access the care it needs to stay healthy.
Experts agree that access to quality health care is the best way to improve global health. But health-care
options vary greatly depending on where you are in the world.

IX. Read the text about the different health care systems and choose the one you think is best. Giver
reasons for your choice.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Around the world, health-care systems differ widely. Countries adopt different systems to provide health care to
their citizens, with different levels of government and private sector involvement. The crucial result is that the
services exist—and that people can afford them. The spectrum of ways in which health care is delivered around
the world can be gathered into four general categories, from universal coverage under fully funded national
programs to no coverage at all, requiring individuals to pay for health care fully out of pocket.
I. Universal coverage with single-payer system
Everyone is covered by a national health-care plan that is fully funded by the government, the so-called single
payer.
• In countries with socialized health care, such as Cuba and the United Kingdom, the government also
delivers care through public hospitals and clinics.
• In single-payer systems, such as Canada, doctors are not government employees.
II. Universal coverage with multi-payer system
A national health insurance system administered by competing insurers usually exists alongside a private
insurance option for high-income people. Governments keep costs low through regulation and direct negotiation
with pharmaceutical companies.
 • In countries such as France, Germany, and Switzerland, people are required to have health care, which
is mostly publicly funded.
• Singapore has an option for people to pay more for better, more individualized service.
III. Multi-payer system with no universal coverage
A mix of health-care programs exists, although health care is not required. More autonomy is given to private
insurance companies by the government, which has given rise to advanced medical technology along with high
costs and no guarantee of health coverage.
• The only example of this system is the United States, where people may have private insurance through
their employers; be covered under single-payer Medicare if they are sixty-five or older; be covered
under government-funded Medicaid if they have a disability or earn less than a certain amount; receive
socialized care through Veterans Health Administration if they have served in the military; purchase
private insurance on exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act; or simply go uninsured, as twenty-
eight million people currently do.
IV. No national health-care infrastructure (fully out of pocket)
There is an important fourth reality in that, for most of the developing world, no national health-care
infrastructure exists.
• Health care is subsidized minimally, or not at all: the government of an average low-income country
spends $23 per person on health, compared to the United States, which spends $3,860, and the United
Kingdom, which spends $2,695.
• Access to doctors, vaccines, and medications can be limited.
• Aid organizations sometimes fill the gap, but a significant portion of global health financing today
targets specific diseases, not holistic or preventive care.
With different economic, geographic, and political domestic situations, it is unrealistic to expect one approach to
health care to work for all countries. More important than one system, however, is a universal goal: to provide
quality health care to the maximum number of people at an affordable price.

X. Work in groups and create a national health-care system that you think will satisfy the needs.

XI. Watch the video and fill in the gaps. Do not write more than TWO WORDS.

1. A __________ for new infectious diseases is becoming difficult.

2. The __________ of a new disease worldwide is possible.
3. __________ may cause inevitable spread.
4. __________ must be implemented by individual governments.
5. With so many actors, it is difficult to realize who’s __________.
6. One-tenth of poor countries’ population would die in a __________.
7. __________ might be prepared before a disease breaks out.
8. American cities have no __________ to handle an epidemic.

XII. How do you see the role of WHO and other organization related to global health issues in light of
Covid-19? Surf the net and collect information.

XIII. Work in groups and create an organization for health prevention. Consider the following points

- goal
- funding
- providing information
- providing service
- facing a pandemic