Identify the most important types of cooperate efforts in addressing global health problems. Do these
health efforts improve the health of individuals in your country of study?
There seems to be a fair amount of organizations that are attempting to address global health
problems such as Center for Disease Control, World Health Organization, World Bank, Centre on
Global Health Study, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),
and many others. With the world becoming closer and closer through easier and faster travel, the
threat of diseases being carried with the 8 million people that fly on a plane each day, increases and
brings the more of a need for global cooperation. What was once considered “their” problem, quickly
becomes everyone problem. In an article by Malia Politzer, she shares the thought of World Bank
President Jim Yong Kim who says, “the threats of global pandemics are very real… such threats
represent by far the greatest global risk, with the potential to wipe out between 5 and 10 percent of
the GDP of the world’s economy, as well as having the potential to kill tens of millions of people.”
Swine flu, Zika virus and Ebola all originated in different countries, but as we know from the past,
they can work their way to other countries, including here in the United States. Disease knows no
boundaries and does not discriminate. In addition to pandemics, the world faces looming threats
from natural disasters, with many related to climate change, including floods, droughts, and
earthquakes. There is also a link between these 2 threats as natural disasters, can lead to the
spread of disease. In this same article by Politzer, the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
claims, “climate-related disasters alone have adversely affected the lives of 4.1 billion people over
the past two decades and killed more than 600,000.” Obviously, as in with most cases, one poor
result can lead to bigger and worse possibilities.
According to the World Health Organization, “a health system is the sum total of all the
organizations, institutions and resources whose primary purpose is to improve health. A good health
system requires a robust financing mechanism, a well-trained and adequately paid workforce,
reliable information on which to base decisions and policies, well-maintained facilities and logistics to
