Eight Ways to Make a Difference in Global Health

(image credit: World Economic Forum)

Global health can seem like an overwhelming field. It covers so many different topics, and is affected by so many different things. It's hard, sometimes, for one person to see a way to make a difference. But you don't have to be Bill Gates to make a difference in global health. The key is to figure out what you care about, and then figure out what you can give. It could be money, it could be time, or it could be expertise.

1. Identify the health issues you think are most important, and educate yourself about their causes and solutions. You can’t be an effective advocate if you don’t know what you’re talking about. The about section of this blog will get you started if you need an easy place to begin.

2. Spread your new knowledge around. Talk to your friends. Comment on blogs (this one, perhaps), put an interesting link in your Facebook profile, or start a blog yourself. Write to your newspaper.

3. Join MERLIN's Hands up for Health Workers campaign. MERLIN is a humanitarian NGO devoted to creating a world where basic health care is available to all. Their Hands Up for Health Workers campaign is dedicated to training health workers around the world, to make health care available to everyone.

4. Volunteer online with UN volunteers. The UN volunteer program places mid-career professional with UN agencies around the world that need their expertise. The online volunteer program allows UN agencies to post specific tasks that they need help with which can be done virtually. You just browse the list and find something you want to do. It lets you give your time to a whole range of things, in the kind of small bites you can easily donate. It’s a great use of the internet. The health volunteer requests are here, and they currently include grant-writing, database development, and online teacher training.

5. Hold a fundraiser for a health cause you believe in. This could be as simple as a bake sale or as complicated as silent auction. Ehow has handy instructions on how to plan a fundraiser.

6. Use your internet presence to fundraise for the causes that matter to you. You can start a fundraising page here on Change.org.

7. Join the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood. Giving birth shouldn’t lead to death, but every minute a woman dies in childbirth. Support the White Ribbon Alliance to help make motherhood safe for all women.

8. Advocate for increased government funding for global health priorities. Write your elected representatives, and call for your government to devote funding to global health. I suggest safe motherhood, child survival, and primary health care as funding priorities, but those are just recommendations.