Running head: PAPER 1 1

Paper 1

Giselle Rojas

HSCI 6330

Professor Sarwar

6 March 2022
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One important point that Mary Basset emphasized in her speech on social justice is the

importance of speaking up about health inequities (Bassett, 2015). An example of this is

demonstrated through the Guinea worm intervention in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (Skolnik,

2020) . The intervention aimed to prevent the spread of the disease caused by drinking

contaminated water. The disease heavily impacted poor countries in Africa and Asia where they

lacked access to clean water (Skolnik, 2020). Although work was being done to prevent the

spread of the disease, the intervention did not see their best results until key political leaders used

their voices and became clear advocates for the program’s initiative (Skolnik, 2020).

Furthermore, another important point in Basset’s presentation is the institutionalized racism and

discrimination in health care (Basset, 2015). One example of an injustice in health care is the

documented Tuskegee Study where African American men were unknowingly studied on and

infected with syphilis (Skolnik, 2020). Another group impacted by discrimination globally in the

field of health care are sexual gender minorities. The textbook brings up an important example of

a case study that documents health inequities, such as lack of access to interventions and

resources for HIV prevention, faced by men who have sex with men (Skolnik, 2020).

The disparities in health that exist among certain groups exemplifies the need to

acknowledge global health issues. This difference in health is demonstrated in one example

through the life expectancy at birth in low-income countries. The low-income countries have a

life expectancy of 63 years compared to high income countries where their life expectancy is 81

years (Skolnik, 2020). Also, the difference in burden of disease among low-income countries

demonstrates that their leading causes of death are by infectious diseases like HIV and Malaria

(Skolnik, 2020). In high income countries, those diseases are not even in the top ten. These

differences display the importance of working towards achieving global health equity.
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References

Bassett, M. (2015). Why your doctor should care about social justice. TED.

https://www.ted.com/talks/mary_bassett_why_your_doctor_should_care_about_social_ju

stice?language=en

Skolnik, R. (2020). Global Health 101 (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.