HSC 440 & PHL 440: Biomedical Ethics

What can be done about the poor state of global health? How are global health challenges intimately linked to the global political economy and to issues of social justice? Global Health and Global Health Ethics addresses these questions from the perspective of a range of disciplines, including medicine, philosophy and the social sciences. Topics covered range from infectious diseases, climate change and the environment to trade, foreign aid, food security and biotechnology.

Global health arguably represents the most pressing issues facing humanity. Trends in international migration and transnational commerce render state boundaries increasingly porous. Human activity in one part of the world can lead to health impacts elsewhere. Animals, viruses and bacteria as well as pandemics and environmental disasters do not recognize or respect political borders. It is now widely accepted that a global perspective on the understanding of threats to health and how to respond to them is required, but there are many practical problems in establishing such an approach.

Reimagining Global Health provides an original, compelling introduction to the field of global health. Drawn from a Harvard course developed by their student Matthew Basilico, this work provides an accessible and engaging framework for the study of global health. Insisting on an approach that is historically deep and geographically broad, the authors underline the importance of a transdisciplinary approach, and offer a highly readable distillation of several historical and ethnographic perspectives of contemporary global health problems

Few topics in human rights have inspired as much debate as the right to health. Proponents would enshrine it as a fundamental right on a par with freedom of speech and freedom from torture. Detractors suggest that the movement constitutes an impractical over-reach. Jonathan Wolff cuts through the ideological stalemate to explore both views. In an accessible, persuasive voice, he explores the philosophical underpinnings of the idea of a human right, assesses whether health meets those criteria, and identifies the political and cultural realities we face in attempts to improve the health of citizens in wildly different regions.

In Beholden: Religion, Global Health, and Human Rights, Susan R. Holman--a scholar in both religion and the history of medicine--tells stories designed to help shape a new perspective on global health, one that involves a multidisciplinary integration of religion and culture with human rights and social justice. Holman's study serves as an insightful guide for students and practitioners interested in improving and broadening the scope of global health initiatives, with an eye towards having the greatest impact possible.