Introduction: Grand Challenges in Global Health and the Need for Interdisciplinary Approaches
Section 1: Improving Food, Water, Air, and Shelter
Ch. 1 Full of Hunger: Addressing the Double-burden of Obesity and Malnutrition
(Perspectives from Public Health and Regional Planning)
Ch. 2 When the Well Runs Dry: Delivering Safe and Affordable Water
(Perspectives from Geology and Urban Planning)
Ch. 3 Hazy Futures: Improving Air Quality for Maternal and Child Health
(Perspectives from Engineering and Environmental Health)
Ch. 4 Loss of Home, Loss of Self: Sheltering Refugees Amidst Crisis
(Perspectives from Architecture, Medicine, and Social Work)
Section 2: Engaging Cultural Diversity
Ch. 5 Do as You Say, Not as You Do: Changing Risky Behaviors
(Perspectives from Health Behavior and Philosophy)
Ch. 6 Blood Cultures: Integrating Traditional and Modern Medical Practices to Improve Health
(Perspectives from History, Medicine, and Linguistics)
Ch. 7 Kangaroo Care: Saving the Lives of Premature Babies
(Perspectives from Epidemiology and Child Health)
Ch. 8 Rites vs. Rights: Conquering Gender-based Violence
(Perspectives from Gender Studies and Social Work)
Section 3: Leveraging New Technologies and Techniques
Ch. 9 Dragon’s Blood: Combatting the Mysteries of Antimicrobial Resistance
(Perspectives from Microbiology, Chemistry, and Geography)
Ch. 10 Extraction: Innovating Diagnostic Methods in Low-resource Settings
(Perspectives from Dentistry and Computer Science)
Ch. 11 Front-line Deployment: Utilizing Nanotechnology to Battle Disease at the Source
(Perspectives from Nanotechnology and Public Health)
Ch. 12 While Supplies Last: Overcoming Stock-outs of Essential Medicines
(Perspectives from Pharmacy and Industrial Engineering)
Section 4: Planning for the Future
Ch. 13 World War X: Designing Health Systems Resilient Amidst Chaos
(Perspectives from Economics and Political Science)
Ch. 14 Gone, but Not Forgotten: Drawing Lessons from the Eradication of Polio and Guinea Worm
(Perspectives from Biology and International Development)
Ch. 15 Worst-case Scenarios: Building Policies, Plans, and Strategies to Curb Extreme Events
(Perspectives from Environmental Planning and Law)
Ch. 16 Rash Decisions: Dispatching the Next Pandemic
(Perspectives from Nursing and Management)
Korydon H. Smith, EdD, M.Arch, is professor and chair of the Department of Architecture and Co-lead of the Community Excellence in Global Health Equity at the University at Buffalo – State University of New York.
Pavani Kalluri Ram, MD, is a senior medical advisor for Child Health with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and formerly associate professor in the School of Public Health and Health Professions and co-director of the Community of Excellence in Global Health Equity at the University at Buffalo – State University of New York.
This contributed volume motivates and educates across fields about the major challenges in global health and the interdisciplinary strategies for solving them. Once the purview of public health, medicine, and nursing, global health is now an interdisciplinary endeavor that relies on expertise from anthropology to urban planning, economics to political science, geography to engineering. Scholars and practitioners in the health sciences are seeking knowledge from a wider array of fields while, simultaneously, students across majors have a growing interest in humanitarian issues and are pursuing knowledge and skills for impacting well-being across geographic and disciplinary borders.
Using a highly practical approach and illustrative case studies, each chapter of this edited volume frames a particular problem and illustrates how interdisciplinary problem-solving can address the greatest challenges in global health today. In doing so, each chapter spurs critical and creative thinking about emergent and future problems.
Topics explored among the chapters include:
Transforming health and well-being for refugees and their communities
Governing to deliver safe and affordable water
The global crisis of antimicrobial resistance
Low-tech, high-impact interventions to prevent neonatal mortality
Communicating taboo health subjects
Alternative housing delivery for slum upgrades
Transforming Global Health: Interdisciplinary Challenges, Perspectives, and Strategies is a vital and timely compendium for any reader invested in improving global health equity. It will find an audience with researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and program implementers, as well as undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in the fields of global health, public health, and the health sciences.