Taking the temperature of global health

 
Many people use life expectancy as the key metric for measuring global health, but Ellen Foley and Tsitsi Masvawure know the truth is much more nuanced and complicated. The two are co-editors of the new book “The Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Global Health,” which asks how partnerships that work toward improving health outcomes can become more equitable.

Foley, a professor in Clark’s Department of Sustainability and Social Justice, and Masvawure, a professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, are both medical anthropologists who study health in Africa and HIV. Their book explores the complex relationship between anthropology and global health and is structured in five sections:

• Social, cultural, and political determinants of health
• Knowledge production in anthropology and global health
• Persistent invisibilities in global health
• Reimagining a critical global health
• New horizons in anthropology and global health

Throughout the volume, scholars from around the world examine topics across these themes, including rare diseases, HIV, health security, Indigenous communities, decolonizing global health, and more.

“There’s been a huge movement to decolonize global health,” says Foley. “This should not be about wealthy Western or Northern countries coming to help and bringing money and expertise.

“Why should a researcher from Clark or WPI apply for a grant to get millions of dollars to do research in Senegal without somebody from Senegal sitting on the panel, evaluating the quality of that project,” Foley continues. “I think all the stakeholders should be at the table at every stage. The most involved folks should be weighing in on those decisions, which is not the way that global health has worked in the past.”

Masvawure notes that while many funding agencies think of health as “levels” of disease, global health involves a range of factors, for instance housing insecurity and food access.

“If we think of global health as the state of health in the world — all of us together — that should allow movement to take place in any direction,” Masvawure says. “If malaria is emerging in the U. S., for example, then let’s connect with those countries that have been dealing with malaria forever to help shape the American response. That’s one way we can start to make those partnerships equitable.”

Global health can be improved everywhere, the authors insist.

“You can look at a place like Senegal or Zimbabwe and measure the burden of disease the population is facing and how their chances for a long and healthy life compare to someone elsewhere,” Foley says. “Of course, you can do the same thing in Worcester. In the south of Worcester, one zip code has an eight-year difference in life expectancy to another city zip code. These issues are right here, and you don’t have to go to Senegal or Zimbabwe to see how challenges play out.”

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

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