Over the Spring 2018 semester, I embarked on the trip of a lifetime.  Spending roughly six weeks each in Shanghai, China, Sydney, Australia, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, the most fulfilling part of my academic career was spent with a dozen other Pitt students and our professor, learning about global public health.

In Shanghai, we learned about the basics of the Chinese national health system, particularly in comparison to the system which we have in the United States, and how outcomes in health have been impacted as a result.  Special attention was paid to the development of a national healthcare system under strong social, political, and economic upheaval during the second half of the 20th century, as well as adaptations to public health in China in the face of a rapidly adapting economy, as well as how the environment/climate change impact health on the macro level.

In Australia we studied public health in relation to the treatment of immigrants, both historical and in the present.  From 19th century quarantine to offshore immigrant detention, we learned how racism and societal prejudice at large share not only our conceptions of public health, but also our treatment of people in the name of it.  We also focused on how the impact of racist laws taken on by a state power (for example, white-only immigration laws) has shaped health both historically and into the present.

In Argentina we shifted our focus to cultural depictions of health and well-being, common in Latin American literature.  We also looked at issues concerning indigenous health in Argentina and the Western Hemisphere more generally, along with learning how the divide between democratic and authoritarian rule and market versus planned economies impact the health and well-being of the citizens of a state.

The main takeaway from this program was that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to defining public health, nor does such a standard apply for improving our health and well-being across the globe.  Rather, health, just like other fields, is strongly shaped by the cultures it interacts with, and coming into the health field with a predetermined set of ideas about a different group of people or their health practices is unhelpful and inaccurate at best.  Rather, we must recognize the validity of various practices regarding health while working to improve access to all, knowing that public health is not bound by boarders, rather impacts are always felt on a global level.