Mapping the key issues shaping the landscape of global public health

Abstract

A survey of global health experts attending an invited meeting provided a means to map key issues perceived to be shaping emerging global public health agendas. Eighty-five participants proposed three major issues likely to have the most significant impact on the field of global health in the coming years. Six raters grouped the resultant items, with multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) analysis producing a composite two-dimensional map depicting the overall patterning of items. Thematic clusters were incorporated within four major domains: changing health and prevention needs (15% of items), globalisation and global health governance (33% of items), transforming health systems (30% of items) and innovations in science and technology (7% of items). The remaining 15% of items addressed forms of environmental change. The distribution of items across domains was not significantly influenced by the current professional role of participants, their current location in the ‘global north’ or ‘global south’ or their region of focus (although the latter approached threshold significance). The constraints on interpretation imposed by the biases influencing participation in the survey are noted. However, the exercise suggests the potential for coherently defining shared agendas for diverse stakeholders to address emerging priorities. The closer integration of environmental concerns with other global public issues is clearly warranted.

Keywords:

• epidemiology
• demography
• globalization
• governance
• health systems
• environment

Notes

The work reported was approved by Columbia University Medical Center IRB in the terms of determination AAAI1470.

1. www.globalpublichealthconference.org

2. A major focus of discussion at the meeting was means of extending such inclusive dialogue by means of establishment of some form of ‘knowledge network’ (see Natividad et al. 2012, this volume) or otherwise.