Nearly three month ago I found myself siting on an Adirondack chair on Broadway Triangle. Beauty drew us to this section of town. It was one block from Pierson College, where I along with other global health advocates, were residing. A nice gentle breeze was blowing from Elm Street, carrying with it a tantalizing aroma from Maison Mathis and Bistro Noodle. I switched my attention from the expo summer camp students who were enjoying their Hummus dip at Maison Mathis, and to my far right, I could see techie individuals swiping the tip of their fingers on Macintosh gadgets inside the Yale Apple-Store. Siting right on the middle of a Y-junction, I admired the automobiles passing through both ends of Broadway Street. It was not the busy street full of Azungu pedestrians that caught my attention, nor the wonderful trees along the road that pulled my guts or the interconnection of the world around me. It was the interplay of all these facets of life that were at hand. Their interconnectedness is what struck my attention. It was how the health food business could use the electronics products from Mac to account for their products; it was how the fresh air produced by trees along the road absorbing carbon produced by the automobile traffic which was the focal topic of the Expo summer camp students visiting the magnificent Yale University.
I sat there relating the idea of interconnection to the disciplines involved in global health. It was with this thought in mind that my co-fellow and I tried to outline our contribution to global health and map out our journey that was about to begin.
The equation to building health equity is not only good hospitals, anatomy books, physicians and nurses. Rather it is the collaborations between nations that bring together facets of research and action to build health care that is accessible and effective for all. It is the contributions of different types of professionals and expertise that will build sustainable health equity. It is the contribution of food nutrition, top notch architect designs, supply chain analysis, technology, finance and monitoring and evaluation that makes the whole health field able to grow and succeed. This is what global health is all about, and bringing these professionals and their varied skills to the problem of health equity is what Global Health Corps does.