What is global health?

lobal health' is coming of age, at least as measured by the increasing number of academic centres, especially in North America, which use this title to describe their interests (1). Most global health centres are in high-income countries although several have strong links with low-and middle-income countries. A task force is establishing a mechanism to coordinate European Academic Global Health initiatives through ASPER. Two recent papers raise important issues about the meaning and scope of global health (2, 3) and highlight, yet again, the need for a common definition of global health which is short, sharp and widely accepted, including by the public (4). Koplan et al. from the Consortium of Universities for Global Health Executive Board point out that without an accepted definition of global health, it will be difficult to agree on what global health is trying to achieve and how progress will be made and monitored (2). This is particularly important given the recent global crises Á climate change, economic, food and energy crises Á that make global health efforts even more challenging (5). Koplan and colleagues propose a definition of global health which they hope will receive wide acceptance and thus encourage global health efforts. They distinguish between global health, international health and public health; tropical medicine has close connections with international health (1). However, there is widespread confusion and overlap among the three terms. International health, in Koplan's view, focuses on the health issues, especially infectious diseases, and maternal and child health in low-income countries. However, elsewhere international health is also used as a synonym for global health. For example, Merson et al. view international health as 'the application of the principles of public health to problems and challenges that affect low and middle-income countries and to the complex array of global and local forces that influence them' (6). The term 'international health' has also been used to refer to 'the involvement of countries in the work of international organizations such as WHO, usually through small departments of international health in the Ministries of Health and as development aid and humanitarian assistance' (7). Public health is usually viewed as having a focus on the health of the population of a specific country or community , a perspective shared by Koplan et al. (2). Fried et al. dispute any distinction between public health and global health and suggest that 'public health is global health for the …