Funding the future of global health: A medical student perspective

Abstract

As students from the Penn State College of Medicine (PSCOM) who are engaged in medical research projects in Ecuador, Kenya, Ethiopia and Peru, we recognize we are at a defining crossroad in global health; yet, our voices are seldom invited into public debate. For decades, global health has been synonymous with prevention and treatment of infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis; today, however, the disease burden is shifting toward non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and future physicians will face the likelihood of having to make difficult decisions about the distribution of the scarce resources devoted to health care.¹ The 2011 United Nations General Assembly Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases sparked a debate when members proposed increased funding for NCDs without acknowledging the negative impact such allocations would have on funding for preventing and treating infectious diseases.¹ With our future careers and past experiences in mind, students from PSCOM have explored this conflict in depth and concluded that it is critical that we fight for continued funding of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).