In this week’s GHU we continued to look at health as a human right through the view point of specific case studies. In particular, we examined the differences between health in urban and rural environments.
We thought about the 2010 WHO guidelines on urban health, which were spurred by the fact that over 50% of the world population is living in urban areas. The 5 categories for improvement set forth by WHO include: 1. Urban planning; 2. Improve urban living conditions; 3. Participatory urban governance; 3. Ensure cities are accessible and age friendly; 4. Make cities resilient to emergencies and disasters. We asked our members: Do you agree with these categories? Why or why not? How can urban planning improve health? What role can clinical care with respect to improving urban care play? What role can public health play? Are their goals in line with each other?
To get a sense of the challenges faced by health care providers in rural environments, we watched this video about primary health care in Nepal. We asked our members: How can rural health in the most remote parts of the world be improved? Why hasn’t it been improved already? What problems are unique to rural areas? Are their limitations to the efforts of NGOs such as Nyaya Health?