Global Health Essentials

This practical and handy textbook offers a succinct yet comprehensive overview of the main challenges, issues and solutions in global health in relation to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030 agenda.

Subdivided into 11 parts, devoted each to a macro-topic, the book opens with an introduction to Global Health followed by an overview of the global burden of disease – from child and maternal health to communicable and non-communicable diseases. The authors further examine the social determinants of health, health systems’ features as well as innovations, governance and methods in Global Health.
In consideration of the emerging discussions and ideas, and beyond the more traditional and essential elements of global health, the book also looks at the need to re-think the whole concept of global health and the importance of a “decolonized” approach that engages low and lower-middle countries fully. One entire part is then devoted to analyzing the major threats to the health of humanity such as climate change, the need for an ecological approach to health (including “One Health” approaches), and, ultimately, planetary health.

Written by an international panel of more than 100 experts, this manual will be an excellent resource for students in a broad range of disciplines – from medicine and other scientific studies to economics, social science, anthropology and international relations. Pragmatic and reader-friendly, it will further be a valuable tool for policymakers, program implementers and those wishing to build knowledge on the meaning, principles and practices of global health.

Professor Mario C. Raviglione is Full Professor of Global Health at the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research in Health Sciences (MACH) of the University of Milan, Italy.  He is also Honorary Professor at the Queen Mary University of London, UK. Previously, he worked at WHO where he directed the Global Tuberculosis Programme (2003-2017). A graduate from Turin University, Italy, he trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases, and AIDS at Cabrini Medical Centre, New York, and Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston. He is one of the most cited authors worldwide in the TB field. His work consists of more than 400 publications on TB, AIDS, infectious diseases and global health in journals and chapters in public health books, including the past 8 editions of the Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. His h-index is 116 and his citations over 59,000. Prof. Raviglione has worked with over 50 countries world-wide and has been visiting professor or lectures in major universities including Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Mc Gill, Sydney, Geneva, Liverpool, Pavia, Modena & Reggio Emilia, and Brescia. In 2005 he received the Princess Chichibu TB Global Award. In 2009 he was nominated Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (F.R.C.P., London, UK). In 2010 he received the Wolfheze 20-Year Jubilee Award (The Netherlands). In 2014 he was appointed a Foundation Fellow of the European Respiratory Society (F.E.R.S.). In 2014 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award by the India International Public Health Conference of the Indian Medical Association. In 2016 he was made Honorary Member of the Russian Society of Physiatry. In 2017, he received the USAID Global Leader Award “in recognition of innovative approach, scientific rigor, and dedicate service in partnership to End TB”. In 2019-2020 he was Professeur Titulaire at the Global Studies Institute of the University of Geneva.

 Professor Fabrizio Tediosi is an economist specialized in public health and health systems and policy research. He holds a degree in economics and management from the University of Pavia, a MSc in Health Economics from the University of York, and a PhD in International Public Health from University of Basel. He is Research Group leader at the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and Titular Professor, Faculty of Science, University of Basel. He is a research leader in health financing; developing and applying methods to evaluate and validate health interventions for delivering them at adequate levels of effective coverage; health policy analysis and evaluation; and the impact of global governance and policy on public health. He has authored over 200 publications, including articles in peer reviewed journals, books, book chapters, and working papers.  

Dr Simone Villa is a research fellow at the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research in Health Sciences (MACH) of the University of Milan, Italy. He is a young medical doctor who graduated in 2018, with a Master’s degree in Global Health and currently enrolled in the MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. In the past four years he has worked in the field of tuberculosis epidemiology, especially in vulnerable populations (eg, migrants, refugees, and homeless) and anti-TB R&D. He participated in the summer school on Global Health Challenges held at the University of Copenhagen in 2017 and in the WHO summer school on The Health of refugees and migrants: ensuring accessibility, promoting health, and saving lives in 2020. Currently, he is working on two European Commission-funded projects EU-PEARL, that aims to re-think how clinical trials are designed, and UNITE4TB, a 7 years-long phase II clinical trial for new anti-TB regimens. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has also worked with experts from the Columbia University, McGill University, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health on an ecological study on COVID-19 mortality presented at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference 2021. He has written books’ chapters on tuberculosis, global health, and nutrition in a planetary health perspective, and has nineteen other publications (h-index 8) in the past two years.  

Núria Casamitjana is Director of Training and Education at ISGlobal and Professor at University of Barcelona. She holds a B.A. in Pharmacy and a PhD from UB, and a Master in Occupational Health from University of Barcelona - University Pompeu Fabra.

She was responsible, together with Dr Pedro Alonso, for the creation of the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB, 2006) and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal, 2010). From 2006 to 2010 she was Deputy Director at CRESIB.
Dr Casamitjana has held key senior management positions at the University of Barcelona, including president of the Health Sciences Division and Vice-rector for Academic Affairs (2002-2005).
She is Director of the Master of Global Health and the Master of Clinical Research: International Health track at UB; and coordinator of the track on International Health of the Medicine and Translational Research PhD Programme at the UB. She also coordinates other courses in different topics regarding global health, including the leadership courses on Science of Eradication: Malaria together with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Swiss TPH; and on Safe Mothers and Newborns together with the Maternal Task Force at the University of Harvard and the University Aga Khan.
She is former President of tropEd (International Network for Education and Training in International Health). Since 2015 to 2019 she was a Board and Executive Committee member of the Partnership for Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (PMNCH) representing the Academic, Research and Training institutions; and from 2018 to 2020 she served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH).
She has been coordinator of EIT Health Campus Pillar at the University of Barcelona since 2015 to 2019. Since 2019 she is member of the EIT Health Strategic Education Board. Currently she is Commissioner of the University of Barcelona Rector for the CHARM EU European Universities project.
Dr Casamitjana has been evaluator for AGAUR, WHO-TDR and EDCTP programmes.

Professor Antoni Plasència,  is the Director General of the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal) since October 2014. He is also Medical Consultant at the Department of International Health of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and Associated Professor at the University of Barcelona. He leads a team of more than 500 people committed to improving global health and promoting health equity through excellence in research and the translation and application of knowledge.

He graduated in Medicine from the University of Barcelona and holds a Ph.D. from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is a specialist in public health and preventive medicine and obtained a Master in Public Health from Yale University, USA.

From 2012 to 2014 he was Technical Director of the Barcelona Center for Research in International Health (CRESIB-Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona). From 2004 to 2011 he was Director General of Public Health of Catalonia (Spain), and was actively involved in the design of the Catalan Public Health Act, as well as in the creation of the Public Health Agency of Catalonia, as previously of the Barcelona Public Health Agency.

Currently, he is co-director of the Master of Global Health at the University of Barcelona. He is also co-director of the Health For All Network of the SDSN (Sustainable Development Solutions Network) initiative and elected Chair of the European Global Health Research Institutes Network (EGHRIN). He is a member of several advisory councils in the field of public health and health research, and is an advisor to different public administrations in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also a member of the Executive Board of Fundaçao Manhiça research center in Mozambique.

His professional activity focuses mainly on epidemiology and public health, with extensive work in the field of health systems and public health, including policy design, strategic planning, and implementation and evaluation of programs and services.