Global Health Institute

The conference offered a wide range of interesting, relevant topics regarding today’s global health challenges. The sessions provided concise introductions of these challenges from leading experts working in international organizations, the academy, and from the field. These challenges are new and unfamiliar, such as emerging epidemics, health in conflict zones, planetary health, and health in urban megacities in the Global South.

Three of the most interesting insights I have gathered from the conference were as follows. First, due to the increased momentum in sharing and using data for policy, the Global Burden of Disease Collaboration now plans to release global burden of disease estimates yearly and expand efforts to produce subnational disease burden estimates. Second, it is possible to implement public health interventions for high-cost diseases like cancer, and successes from these efforts may be used to leverage countries to strengthen health systems. Third, there is an interesting relationship between female employment and their risk for domestic violence. On an ecological level, countries with high rates of female employment are associated with lower national rates of domestic violence. But on an individual level, women who are employed have higher risks of experiencing domestic violence. These three insights just show the level of complexity involved in global health issues, but also show novel opportunities for creating and implementing solutions.

Most of the sessions were also helpful in advancing young careers in global health. There were sessions where students were able to present their abstracts on their research. Through this, students were able to talk to seasoned professionals on how they can improve their research and explore opportunities for collaboration. There were also career talks where global health employers were able to share tips on how to enter the global health workforce. There were also networking events where participants were free to chat with one another and learn more about the vast opportunities available in global health.

Overall, the conference was a good opportunity to bring together like-minded professionals and share lessons from the many disciplines that cross global health. I hope that in future conferences, they continue to strengthen the participation of professionals from the Global South, so that knowledge-sharing becomes even more meaningful.

Nel Jason Haw is currently a Master of Science in Global Health student from Georgetown University.