Health and Development

Abstract

Health and development are two intimately linked concepts that are often labeled as “global health.” International development has a transformative effect on the health landscapes in the Global South (referring to the division of countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia that are in processes of development). Despite the close relationship between the two fields, in practice there is very little concern or connection between development practitioners and health practitioners. This tangential relationship results from a lack of specific attention to the social and environmental determinants of health in the Global South. The tendency for development to see economics first, and for health workers to see the absence of illness first, has created a fractured approach to meeting the health needs of the global poor, which has unfortunately contributed to the failure to meet the millennium development goals in their entirety. Greater attention to the dynamics of place is needed by both development and health practitioners to address the structural determinants of health in the twenty‐first century.