Associate Professor Kevin McCracken, Honorary Fellow in the Department of Geography and Planning, has recently co-authored a second edition of Global Health: An Introduction to Current and Future Trends. We caught up with him to get a thought-provoking outline and understanding of the constantly evolving global health landscape.

 ‘No one is an island, entire to themselves,’ John Donne.

What happens health-wise in any corner of the world can have serious ramifications for all other countries. Increasingly, health challenges are having global impacts and we must find global solutions – the recent Ebola virus and Zika virus crises being the most recent illustrations of this reality.

“Preparation of the second edition has particularly emphasised the dynamism of global health,” Professor McCracken says.

“Who, at the publication of the first edition in 2012, would have picked that five years later much of the geopolitical environment affecting global health would have been effectively tossed in the air with the election of Donald Trump as US President and the UK ‘Brexit’ vote to leave the European Union?

“Those five years have similarly seen the serious and unexpected Ebola and Zika epidemics, but also witnessed astounding medical technological advances, such as dengue vaccine developments, direct acting anti-viral drugs for treating hepatitis C, gene editing, stem cell therapy and immunotherapy.”

Professor McCracken explains that global life expectancy has improved impressively, but the gains have not been equally shared around.

“Horrifically, armed conflict in Syria and other areas has seen an enormous loss of life, while the threat of famine has emerged in East Africa, but been largely ignored by the wealthy developed world.”

A central theme running through the book is the difficult ethical issues arising in global health. For example, do rich, advanced nations have a moral responsibility to help poorer countries improve their population health? In the interests of overall population health, how much subjugation of individual rights and civil liberties should be allowed? In high mortality-risk epidemics, should priority in health care be given to particular sections of the population? In light of the enormous burden of mosquito-borne diseases, would it be ethically justifiable to use genetic engineering to eliminate the mosquito species?

What lies ahead for global health?

Kevin argues that, in the absence of catastrophic global pandemic, nuclear war or environmental change, significant increases in global life expectancy can be confidently anticipated. However, will this longer life be with better or worse health?

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Building on the successful 2012 first edition, new or expanded issues covered in this edition include:

• Emerging and re-emerging infectious disease threats
• Increasing awareness of and interest in antimicrobial resistance and superbugs
• Terrorism, global conflict, and health
• UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
• The drive for Universal Health Coverage
• Information technology in global health
• Substance abuse
• Elder abuse
• The health of LGBTI people
• Palliative and end-of-life care
• Ethical issues in global health

Kevin’s profile provides further information on his research and publications.