Global Public Health Exam 1 questions
with complete solutions
Define a biosocial approach to health problems - correct answer ✔✔"The intertwining reality of
biological and social factors in health."
-Biological processes and social processes affect each other and thereby influence health and disease.
Biosocial approach to malaria - correct answer ✔✔-Biological: only focuses on the parasite (mosquito)
and the biological solutions like anti-malarial medications
-Social: what are the irrigation/agricultural patterns that allow for sitting water? Why have populations
migrated to malarial zones?
-Solutions: looking at how to change irrigation practices, understanding patterns of migration
Apply a biosocial approach to the Marshall Islands - correct answer ✔✔-Conditions of poverty, stress,
malnutrition compromise health conditions allowing for the spread of TB
-American base on Kwajalein and Ebeye: separates the wealth / health
-Relocation of people tearing apart culture and health, stress effects health
What are the "resocializing disciplines" and what do they offer to the study of global public health? What
disciplines are not included among that list? - correct answer ✔✔-"Resocializing disciplines" are seen as
anthropology, sociology, history, and political economy
-these combine with epidemiology, demography, clinical practice, molecular biology, and economics to
form the biosocial nature of global health issues
-They better explain "global health equity"
-This leads to the multidisciplinary approach that make up the biosocial approach
-these can illuminate and improve global health practice
,Articulate why GNP and GDP are not sufficient for examining health and income inequalities. What is
obscured by these measures? - correct answer ✔✔These both are the starting point for an examination
of global health inequities.
-Domestic and national data often obscure local inequities such as those within a nation, state, district or
city.
-Substantial difference in health between rich and poor households within single countries
What are some problems with defining the term "health?" What is the difference between health and
"medicine" and between "global health" and "international health"? Why do these differences matter? -
correct answer ✔✔Some problems when defining the world health are that people around the world
may define health differently.
-For example, can any definition of health capture the subjective illness experiences of individuals in
different settings around the globe?
-Public health focuses on the health of populations
-Medicine focuses on the health of individuals
-Global Health is the role of non-state institutions like community based organizations and international
NGOs
-International health emphasized the nation-state as the base unit of comparison and implied a focus on
relationships among states.
Know how someone's wealth is calculated - correct answer ✔✔The most common standard for
measuring wealth is subtracting outstanding debts and liabilities from the cash value of currently owned
assets
Although families with higher earnings typically tend to accumulate more assets, families with the same
income level may have different levels of wealth
,Which metric would better describe a family's access to financial resources, income, or wealth? Why? -
correct answer ✔✔Income is amount of money that a person received in return for his services, sale of
goods, or profit from investments (Earned immediately)
Wealth is better to describe a family's access to financial resources because it is the net worth of a
person, the total value of his assets minus his liabilities (Takes time to acquire)
Accumulated assets provide more complete information about a person's cumulative lifetime economic
resources—his or her lifetime earnings and inherited wealth
Which of the following are true regarding race and health?
A. Although black Americans and white Americans have similar income levels, there is a tremendous gap
in their wealth.
B. Although there are substantial disparities between black Americans and white Americans in both
income and wealth, the biggest disparity is in their income - correct answer ✔✔A
List 3 specific examples of how income influences health. - correct answer ✔✔1. Low birth weight (poor
health) are highest among infants born to low-income mothers.
2. Among adults at age 25, those in higher-income groups can expect to live more than six years longer
than their low-income counterparts
3. Findings show that lower-income children experience higher rates of asthma, heart conditions, and
hearing problems.
Give 2 examples of policies which have successfully improved economic resources for low income
families and may therefore have positive impacts on health-be able to explain how policy works. -
correct answer ✔✔Policy is the awareness of the health implications of reducing the extent of economic
disadvantage
, Current policies are intended to increase income and wealth, especially those among vulnerable
populations
Two examples:
1. Child Tax Credit: eligible working families can claim a credit of up to $1,000 for each dependent child
of under 17 years of age.
2. Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): this program refunds federal taxes for low-income working families,
this has been shown to increase employment and lift children out of poverty
-Social security
-Medicare and medicaid: have greatly reduced poverty among the elderly, therefore, have positive
impacts on health
-Minimum wage laws
Apply a biosocial approach to the Marshall Islands by describing the wider political, economic, or social
decisions which initiated the cascade of events leading to poor health. - correct answer ✔✔The
American base attracted locals to move to Ebeye creating a dense population. The dense population in
Ebeye and unequal distribution of resources between the locals and the Americans on the base led to
conditions of poverty and stress, therefore, allowing for the spread of TB. The relocation of people also
tore apart their cultural traditions, compromising their health due to the stress they endured
Identify the variety of determinants of health at play in the Marshall Islands film. - correct answer ✔✔-
Policymaking: the policies made about the island with the American army base and how Marshallese
could not live on that island
-Social factors: no access to healthy food, limited jobs, low wages, discrimination and unequal
distribution of resources, concentrated poverty, no space for recreation activity
-Physical factors: nuclear warfare led to radiation burns, lack of green space, density of the population,
lack of access to clean water and sanitations, relocation effected tradition agricultural practices, air
pollution, structural violence
-Health services: doctors providing TB treatment to those who need it
-Behaviors: poor sanitation and hand washing, change in diet
-Biology and genetics: some people may be carriers of TB, but never get it, women, children, and elderly
more vulnerable to disease
with complete solutions
Define a biosocial approach to health problems - correct answer ✔✔"The intertwining reality of
biological and social factors in health."
-Biological processes and social processes affect each other and thereby influence health and disease.
Biosocial approach to malaria - correct answer ✔✔-Biological: only focuses on the parasite (mosquito)
and the biological solutions like anti-malarial medications
-Social: what are the irrigation/agricultural patterns that allow for sitting water? Why have populations
migrated to malarial zones?
-Solutions: looking at how to change irrigation practices, understanding patterns of migration
Apply a biosocial approach to the Marshall Islands - correct answer ✔✔-Conditions of poverty, stress,
malnutrition compromise health conditions allowing for the spread of TB
-American base on Kwajalein and Ebeye: separates the wealth / health
-Relocation of people tearing apart culture and health, stress effects health
What are the "resocializing disciplines" and what do they offer to the study of global public health? What
disciplines are not included among that list? - correct answer ✔✔-"Resocializing disciplines" are seen as
anthropology, sociology, history, and political economy
-these combine with epidemiology, demography, clinical practice, molecular biology, and economics to
form the biosocial nature of global health issues
-They better explain "global health equity"
-This leads to the multidisciplinary approach that make up the biosocial approach
-these can illuminate and improve global health practice
,Articulate why GNP and GDP are not sufficient for examining health and income inequalities. What is
obscured by these measures? - correct answer ✔✔These both are the starting point for an examination
of global health inequities.
-Domestic and national data often obscure local inequities such as those within a nation, state, district or
city.
-Substantial difference in health between rich and poor households within single countries
What are some problems with defining the term "health?" What is the difference between health and
"medicine" and between "global health" and "international health"? Why do these differences matter? -
correct answer ✔✔Some problems when defining the world health are that people around the world
may define health differently.
-For example, can any definition of health capture the subjective illness experiences of individuals in
different settings around the globe?
-Public health focuses on the health of populations
-Medicine focuses on the health of individuals
-Global Health is the role of non-state institutions like community based organizations and international
NGOs
-International health emphasized the nation-state as the base unit of comparison and implied a focus on
relationships among states.
Know how someone's wealth is calculated - correct answer ✔✔The most common standard for
measuring wealth is subtracting outstanding debts and liabilities from the cash value of currently owned
assets
Although families with higher earnings typically tend to accumulate more assets, families with the same
income level may have different levels of wealth
,Which metric would better describe a family's access to financial resources, income, or wealth? Why? -
correct answer ✔✔Income is amount of money that a person received in return for his services, sale of
goods, or profit from investments (Earned immediately)
Wealth is better to describe a family's access to financial resources because it is the net worth of a
person, the total value of his assets minus his liabilities (Takes time to acquire)
Accumulated assets provide more complete information about a person's cumulative lifetime economic
resources—his or her lifetime earnings and inherited wealth
Which of the following are true regarding race and health?
A. Although black Americans and white Americans have similar income levels, there is a tremendous gap
in their wealth.
B. Although there are substantial disparities between black Americans and white Americans in both
income and wealth, the biggest disparity is in their income - correct answer ✔✔A
List 3 specific examples of how income influences health. - correct answer ✔✔1. Low birth weight (poor
health) are highest among infants born to low-income mothers.
2. Among adults at age 25, those in higher-income groups can expect to live more than six years longer
than their low-income counterparts
3. Findings show that lower-income children experience higher rates of asthma, heart conditions, and
hearing problems.
Give 2 examples of policies which have successfully improved economic resources for low income
families and may therefore have positive impacts on health-be able to explain how policy works. -
correct answer ✔✔Policy is the awareness of the health implications of reducing the extent of economic
disadvantage
, Current policies are intended to increase income and wealth, especially those among vulnerable
populations
Two examples:
1. Child Tax Credit: eligible working families can claim a credit of up to $1,000 for each dependent child
of under 17 years of age.
2. Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): this program refunds federal taxes for low-income working families,
this has been shown to increase employment and lift children out of poverty
-Social security
-Medicare and medicaid: have greatly reduced poverty among the elderly, therefore, have positive
impacts on health
-Minimum wage laws
Apply a biosocial approach to the Marshall Islands by describing the wider political, economic, or social
decisions which initiated the cascade of events leading to poor health. - correct answer ✔✔The
American base attracted locals to move to Ebeye creating a dense population. The dense population in
Ebeye and unequal distribution of resources between the locals and the Americans on the base led to
conditions of poverty and stress, therefore, allowing for the spread of TB. The relocation of people also
tore apart their cultural traditions, compromising their health due to the stress they endured
Identify the variety of determinants of health at play in the Marshall Islands film. - correct answer ✔✔-
Policymaking: the policies made about the island with the American army base and how Marshallese
could not live on that island
-Social factors: no access to healthy food, limited jobs, low wages, discrimination and unequal
distribution of resources, concentrated poverty, no space for recreation activity
-Physical factors: nuclear warfare led to radiation burns, lack of green space, density of the population,
lack of access to clean water and sanitations, relocation effected tradition agricultural practices, air
pollution, structural violence
-Health services: doctors providing TB treatment to those who need it
-Behaviors: poor sanitation and hand washing, change in diet
-Biology and genetics: some people may be carriers of TB, but never get it, women, children, and elderly
more vulnerable to disease
