Paper 1

Laura Rebolledo

California State University, San Bernardino

HSCI 6330

Dr.Sarwar

March 6, 2022
 In Mary Bassat’s TedxTalk, she emphasized the unspoken responsibility that falls on

healthcare workers to speak out against injustice and to be advocates for everyone’s health.

Bassat's opinions are not new to the health community. Efforts to protect against ethical

malpractice in health have been introduced after instances where human rights were disregarded.

Examples of this is the medical abuse that was inflicted on vulnerable populations by the Nazis

during World War II and the Tuskegee Study. The Tuskegee Study exploited African Americans

for data on syphilis, studying them under false pretenses of providing treatment (Skolnik

2019).These instances pushed for ethical guidelines for human subjects in research studies, a key

factor in the venture for global health.

Bassat continues making other key points, stating racial inequities and institutionalized

racism plays a role in public health. This topic relates to a larger global issue where health

disparities are built upon other social issues such as economic status and education level.

Generally, populations that consist of “less-well-off people'' have less political and social

influence. In result, they possess worse health and worse access to health care services (Skolnik

2019). Bassat’s conversation on social issues and their impact on health highlight the

significance of social determinants, another key global health concept. Health determinants are

not simply based on access to healthcare and are impacted by inequalities such as distribution of

wealth, employment and education opportunities, and distribution of political influence (Skolnik

2019). This leads to great health disparities such as high mortality rates and low life expectancy

in specific populations when compared to others which incites the question of why is society

letting these vulnerable populations take the brunt of the problem. Bassat’s commentary ties in

with global health’s mission. Ultimately, securing proper health and access to care for people

around the globe starts by challenging the inequalities that spur these health disparities.
 References

Skolnik, R. (2019). Global health 101. Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.