Assessing the sustainability of public health in the era of globalization
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Assessing the sustainability of public health in the era of globalization Mohsin Raza 1
&
Muhammad Inam Afzal 2 & Muhammad Ather Elahi 3,4
Received: 6 February 2020 / Accepted: 11 September 2020 / Published online: 26 September 2020 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2020
Abstract In recent times, globalization has emerged as more than purely an economic phenomenon manifesting itself on a global scale. The elements of globalization include international movement of goods and people, financial capital, and information along with technological developments, political dynamics, tourism, and ecological consequences. This study used the Globalization Convergence Index (GCI) as a measure of multi-dimension globalization and linked it with health indicators to analyze if high-ranking countries were doing better in terms of mortality rates. Different statistical tests were performed to measure the impact of the globalization process on mortality indicators of public health. Findings suggest that highly globalized countries have better health measured in the form of low mortality rates. On domain level, technology was found to be the major driving force for reducing mortality rates followed by social-cultural and ecological domains. In globalization debate, the top-ranked countries were usually lauded as “achievers”, while low-ranked ones were regarded as “losers”. In our opinion, care should be taken while interpreting the observed positive association as simple evidence that globalization is mostly good for our health. Keywords Globalization . Health indicator . Mortality rate . Sustainable development . Political economy
Introduction The globalization has played a significant role in transforming the health system across the world in the latter half of the 20th century and still advancing. The globalization process has impacted the health system through multiple pathways which yielded mixed results varying from region to region. The Responsible Editor: Amjad Kallel * Mohsin Raza [email protected]; [email protected] Muhammad Inam Afzal [email protected] Muhammad Ather Elahi [email protected] 1
Center for Climate Research and Development, COMSATS University Islamabad, Park Road, Tarlai Kalan, Islamabad 45550, Pakistan
2
Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Park Road, Tarlai Kalan, Islamabad 45550, Pakistan
3
Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan
4
University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
recent form of globalization has provided both opportunities and challenges over the health care system in a number of countries (Deaton 2004). Increased penetration of technology in the health sector, fast access to health information, and free movement of the health staff across regions are some of the examples of health opportunities which resulted from the globalization process. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, Ebola in 2014, spread of infectious diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, deprived health in war-torn areas, and malnutrition are so
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