New lecture series features ethics and global health

Staff Report

While medical advances and public health measures have produced impressive achievements in global health in the past century, these improvements have been accompanied by a widening inequality in health status within and between countries. New challenges also have arisen, particularly the increasing risk of the international spread of infectious disease.

This semester, the new Center for Global Health, the Faculty Senate and the Institute for Practical Ethics are sponsoring a series of University-wide lectures and panel discussions to focus the University community’s attention on several wide-ranging global health issues.

The series, which features guest speakers and University faculty members who work in international settings, provides a general introduction to the complex socioeconomic, political and cultural dimensions involved in improving health status in countries around the world. The lectures also will serve as the foundation for a one-credit, 300-level course, Ethics and Global Health. All lectures are open to the public.

“This is an exciting opportunity to learn about global health issues and ethics from internationally distinguished people who care about world health,” said Dr. Richard L. Guerrant, director of the Center for Global Health and Thomas H. Hunter Professor of International Medicine. “We are bringing together leaders in global health fields from U.Va. and from abroad for a student and public forum. I encourage our community to come and learn about the issues and ethics involving international health, one of the most important global issues of our time.”

The Center for Global Health, inaugurated last fall, is developing multidisciplinary global health projects with several schools and departments University-wide, including law, biology, environmental sciences, education, public policy and many other areas.

The center has three primary goals: to establish fellowships for foreign students in a variety of disciplines; to provide scholarships for U.Va. students and faculty to work on health issues in other countries; and to develop an interdisciplinary curriculum on global health. The lectures are part of these collaborative efforts.