Certainly, if you compare it to where we were 30, 20 years ago,
we were lucky if there were hundreds of thousands of dollars involved in
supporting global efforts in health.
Today, that number is close to $30 billion.
And we have totally new players.
We have the global funds against HTP in Malaria.
We have the World Bank.
We have PEPFAR and, of course, we have some of the bi laterals.
Particularly, the United Kingdom, still very active in health.
And then, of course, the Gates Foundation which is a major
funded primarily of global health research.
So it's a very exciting time as exemplified by the growing
number of students going into global health,
undergraduate, graduate and- >> That's you guys.
>> And the tremendous number of faculty who are pursuing careers in global health.
So big changes, very exciting time, and it's been wonderful to be a part of that.
>> Sure, no, and even in our institute, we just had a faculty meeting this morning.
And to look around that our faculty, from medicine to engineering, cultivates-
>> So that's another change.
>> Yeah.
>> I would say that if you went back 30 years ago and you had a meeting of so
called international health or global health, you would have mostly had doctors.
>> Uh-huh.
>> From medical schools and some public health schools.
>> True.
>> Today, I look at our institute, it's only about 40% physicians.
>> Sure.
>> And you have participation from every school on campus.
And if you look at our students in our global health major,
undergraduate major, all of them have a second major.
And sure, some are in the biological sciences, but
many of them are in the social sciences, or even the humanities.
So I think what global health has really shown is how the value of looking
at problems from the interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary lens can be very,
very helpful in addressing the major challenges we face today.
>> Sure, especially if we're talking about bio-psycho-social determinents that
solutions aren't just going to be biological.
>> Correct.
>> We have one major who is in theater studies.
>> Wow. >> And she's in theater studies because
she has realized that reading and studying health promotion that theater and
getting kids involved in theater may actually be one of the important
ways to change behavior and promote good health.
>> I saw that a lot early in the 1990s with AIDS.
There was so much stigma around AIDS, still is today, but in those days,
there was a lot of stigma.
Remember, we didn't have any retroviral drugs,
so being HIV infected was presumed to be a death sentence.
So, there was a lot of stigma and discrimination and
very often inability to talk about HIV.
And one way that was found you can do it was through theater.
>> Really? >> And
you could use the theater not only to talk about AIDS but
also in how to prevent HIV infection, talk about sex, drugs, and issues
that are were not easy to talk about in the average workplace or in a home.
>> I see.
So I saw a lot of the use of theater in those days.
>> Sure as well.
Those days remind me, I was thinking about
the early 90s that during that time with AIDS.
>> Right.
>> And W were the program director, the WHO.
And Zach, you received a lot of acclaim for your leadership and
deservedly so during that difficult time where you and
I both remember no doubt friends who were walking scholarship.
We didn't have the ART then.
Do you think that HIV/AIDS changed the way that we understand and
appreciate the importance of global health?
>> In many ways.
I think first, it was truly a global pandemic.
And besides, maybe flu in 1917.
>> Sure.
>> We hadn't had a global pandemic.
>> Right, right.
>> And we didn't have a pandemic that touched every country.
And I think it made us look at a disease problem globally.
I think that's one thing that it brought us, the global dimension to global crisis.
>> And interdependence.
>> And the interdependence and, and the fact that the spread even was
Quickly from country to country, through many different routes.
>> Right.
>> I think a second change that AIDS brought is a lot of resources.
>> Mm-hm.
>> The Global Fund, the involvement of the World Bank, PEPFAR,
which was at the time by far the largest commitment of the US government and
health globally, was an AIDS initiative.
The fact that AIDS was talked about at the Security Council.
The fact that there was a UN Special, UN General Assembly special session on AIDS.
First time the Security Council,
first time the UN General Assembly talked about a health problem.
They're thinking of doing this now again for Ebola.
>> Yes.
>> But that was the first time.
So certainly resources, political,
the value of political commitment, that was certainly shown with AIDS.
And that increase in resources helped to develop the larger field
of global health, right?
Another very important contribution from AIDS was the Holiary Health and
Human Rights.
>> Mm-hm.
>> Many people don't know or don't remember when in the late 90's, 1990s,
it cost as much as $15,000 a year to treat an AIDS patients with the new drugs.
Today, it's less than $100 and Pharma is still making a profit.
>> Yes. >> So you can see that that change was
dramatic and it came about very much by activism,
often by people with the disease.
>> Yes.
>> And invoking the issue of human rights.
>> Sure.
>> And access to care.
And that would be another area where AIDS has really played a role.
And that's in the access to care movement.
We started with being concerned rightfully about access to care to
anti-retroviral drugs.
>> Mm-hm, sure.
>> And now we are concerned about access to care for all drugs.
>> Of course.
>> And a lot of the drugs that treat chronic diseases are quite expensive.
>> Sure, absolutely.
>> The same issues are coming up about affordability and
access to the most critical drugs for prevention and treatment.
>> Sure.
>> So AIDS was certainly a lightning rod,
it was certainly a major stimulus to the global health field.
