Thinking global, living local: Voices in a globalized world

In Sickness and in Health

Written by on . Published in In sickness and in health

Ambulance
Ambulance

Ambulance cartoon. Published by “Nemo” on pixabay. Public Domain (CC0 1.0) 

The Future Challenges team works together to choose each topic that we discuss. We gather proposals from our network, select a general topic from these proposals, draft several important questions, and then vote together on the final question.

This content package deals with healthcare – both the burdens of poor health and the burdens of an increasingly expensive healthcare system – and its impact on economic success. Our team voted for the following question:

From Uganda to the United States and from China to Chile, access to healthcare is an enormous issue for citizens and governments. The economic burdens of many countries’ healthcare systems can seem trivial when compared with the persistent health crises that continue to trouble other countries. Access to healthcare differs not just between countries, but between regions, genders and classes. What role does healthcare play in determining economic success or failure? How can we bring better health to more people without bankrupting ourselves?

Future Challenges authors are in 65 countries in the developed and the developing world. Take your pick from the Local Views on the right, and explore the ways in which writers from around the world think about this critical issue.

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Tom Fries Twitter: @tom_friesTom

Erstwhile neuroscientist ('97-'00), rowing coach ('99-'10), business student ('07-'09) and cupcake entrepreneur ('09). Now enjoying international work in the Germany and Washington offices of one of Germany's most prominent think tanks.

Most recent Local Views on ‘In sickness and in health’

  • healthcare fraud in the us, medicare, medicaid, affordable care act, obamacare, fraud, cybercrime, cyberfraud, CMS, HIPAA,

    Health Care Fraud in a Broken System

    Written by on June 29, 2014.

    Part 1 in a 2 Part Series The news is awash with headlines that paint a grim picture of healthcare in the United States. From the politicizing of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) to the Veteran Affairs scandal, and now new reports that rank the US dead last in […]

  • Necessary Responsibility: Understanding Uterine Prolapse in Nepal

    Written by on April 1, 2014.

    Reports exposing the lack of human rights in Nepal are furiously common. The ubiquitous nature of deprivation of human dignity makes immune the anger, the indignation. Reports are made, read, talked about for a week and discarded. None but a select few keep the conversation alive; and those who pin […]

  • Bangladesh fights malnutrition … with zinc!

    Written by on September 5, 2013.

      While its much affluent neighbour, India, is busy squabbling over a Right to Food Bill, Bangladesh has been busy. Bangladesh has just launched the world’s first zinc-enriched rice variety. With a country that’s fighting acute malnourishment, and which has one of the highest rates in the world with 41% of children […]

  • Sick of the Cost of Healthcare

    Written by on September 4, 2013.

    Australians’ out-of-pocket healthcare expenses are the fifth highest in the world and amount to twice the sum paid by those in the United Kingdom and France. Almost two decades ago, the Australian government established Medicare, a publicly funded universal health care system, to provide Australians with equitable and affordable medical care, […]

  • Come and Take It: Preventative Care In Texas

    Written by on September 3, 2013.

       The state of Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people in the United States – 26 percent of a population of 26 million. Of the uninsured, 58 percent are Latino, including 1.3 million children under the age of 18. Under the Affordable Care Act, the Medicaid program would […]

  • Industria alimenticia y obesidad infantil en Brasil

    Written by on May 7, 2013.

    Abstract: Today, only in Brazil, one in every three children between 5 and 9 years is obese. Despite the campaigns undertaken by the public health ministry, nothing indicates a decrease of these figures. On the contrary, recent researchs show that the common Brazilian diet is increasingly rich in sugars and saturated […]

  • Healthy Food is an Economic Issue

    Written by on April 24, 2013.

    My recurring stomach issues got me thinking that there are serious problems with the food available on the market. Whenever I’ve had the chance to eat out, the usual after effects were either diarrhea or stomach cramps. The stomach covers more than 80 % of our immune system so you […]