Syndemic Solutions: A Vanguard Concept in the Study of Global Health at Georgetown
By Kelly Schissler
Syndemics as a field of study in global health has been on the rise in recent years here at Georgetown, and for good reason. On December 10, 2018, the Georgetown Environment Initiative will host a syndemics workshop titled “Rethinking syndemics: Innovating approaches in history, methodology, and current events.” In addition, there will be a new Centennial Lab in the Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) on the topic in spring 2019.
SFS Centennial Labs are classes built around ideas and challenges that are relevant to real communities. Students who take these labs are immersed in an interdisciplinary experience, and craft solutions for today's issues. The Centennial Lab on syndemics, led by Professor Emily Mendenhall, will be a new addition in spring 2019.
Syndemics, as defined by the medical journal The Lancet, is a “framework that examines the health consequences of identifiable disease interactions and the social, environmental, or economic factors that promote such interactions and worsen disease.” It makes sense to add syndemics to the Georgetown global health curriculum because the concept encourages thought about the broader social context within which disease operates and fosters interdisciplinary collaboration. It addresses social inequality as a barrier to health in a substantial way, and could be key to getting to the complex roots of many afflictions in society.
It has become clear that we cannot better the global health situation with only vertical interventions; horizontal interventions will allow change to be lasting and sustainable. Part of this process is crafting health-friendly policies which clearly operate within a broader societal landscape. By understanding syndemics and how diseases interact with that landscape, the global health community can build solutions that address a wide variety of social needs, and therefore provide care for the whole person.
If you are interested in learning more about syndemics, consider checking out the Syndemic Series in The Lancet or Professor Emily Mendenhall's books Syndemic Suffering: Social Distress, Depression, and Diabetes among Mexican Immigrant Women, and the forthcoming Rethinking Diabetes. Here at Georgetown, we are encouraged to consider all sides of a problem before we attempt to solve it: scientific, political, economic, social, environmental, etc. Syndemics is yet another framework within which we can work toward a better, healthier world.
Kelly Schissler (SFS'19) is a senior in the Walsh School of Foreign Service majoring in science, technology, and international affairs with a concentration in biotechnology and global health. She is also a student fellow with the Global Health Initiative.