2.2.1: Global Health Institute

Address health disparities both in our local community and worldwide.

Other Information:

Duke's Global Health Institute will address one of the most important problems of our time: the health disparities both in our local community and worldwide. Global poverty, mal-distribution of resources between developed and developing nations, lack of infrastructure in developing countries, global climate change and environmental pollution, all contribute to the inability of societies to deal with problems that adversely affect global health. Adding to these factors are immigration from developing countries, military health issues, bioterrorism, biologic agent threats, and naturally emerging, new infectious diseases. Health issues are now global in scope, both in terms of disease prevention and therapy, and research on infectious diseases and the applications of that research require an equally global dimension. We see in these global health challenges a particularly promising opportunity to expand our research and educational programs, with potential that will directly allow Duke students and faculty to contribute to global health. Global health is not only a moral imperative but also a key to global stability. As a result, the world's governments and multilateral institutions have begun to commit serious resources to address global health issues. Duke's Global Health Institute will bring together interdisciplinary teams to work with partners to solve highly complex health problems and to train the next generation of global health scholars. With the fundamental goal to improve the human condition, this program could be solely focused on the medical center and health system. We recognize, however, that the ability to affect strategies for improving global health requires not only understanding transmission and prevention of diseases, but how different cultures view their health concerns, how medical realities are embedded in psychosocial, historical, demographic, economic, legal, management, and political contexts, how to best relate the advances afforded by modern medicine to a variety of cultures, and how human impact on the environment affects disease. The humanities and their ability to examine and convey understanding about cultures are essential; indeed, science divorced from an understanding of human cultures and their interactions is unlikely to effectively improve the human condition.

Stakeholder(s):

• Global Health Institute

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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