Another interesting factor in Ebola crisis was a reduced population of apes prior to infection suggesting wild life death could have been a silenced cause of Ebola relative to globalization (Olival & Hayman, 2014). Some of the major reasons for the outbreak of Ebola were increased migration of people, evolutionary mechanism of the causative virus and unknown zoonotic reservoirs. Ebola is one of the many diseases that crossed the boundaries and spread at a rapid pace (Arwady et al., 2015). In these COVID- 19 times, going back to the Ebola outbreak can provide us some valuable insights. The association of globalization and health can be explicitly explained using the examples of the Ebola virus outbreak and the increasing incidence of type II diabetes mellitus.

Globalization paved a way for an increase in the incidence of infectious as well as non-communicable diseases. Hence, a precise understanding of these determinants plays a crucial role in prevention and containment of the health risks they might be susceptible to. The cultural practices dietary habits they follow social norms they face their genetic make-up their access to health services housing facilities and the policies functional in their localities are to be considered to assess one’s health status (Koh et al., 2011). Health outcomes, whether good or bad are influenced by a person’s interaction with the society they live in. These factors are known as determinants of health which influence the individual and community in a wider aspect. It is essential to gain knowledge about the factors which make few people healthy and others unhealthy. To properly elicit the effect of globalization on health, we ought to understand its impact on the local population. More than ever before, the world is interconnected through globalization, and health is an integrated result of socio-cultural, biological, economic, environmental and institutional dimensions (Koh, Piotrowski, Kumanyika & Fielding, 2011). It is essentially a functional integration of the global population (Lee & Collin, 2001) and according to Baylis, Owens & Smith (2008), “It is the process of increasing interconnectedness between societies such that events in one part of the world have effects on people and societies far away.” Being one of the widely accepted definitions of globalization, this serves the purpose of explaining its correlation with the aspect of health. The term “globalization” used in a variety of contexts over the years is mostly debated to be an evolution across the fields of economy and industry and as the bridging of geographical gaps.

Share on WhatsApp Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Telegram Share on Reddit Share on EmailĬo-Written by Sudhamshi Beeram, Parul Malik & Arathi P Rao Image by Eric Westbrook

Health impacts of globalization