# Transcript

ILONA KICKBUSCH

Globalisation affects public health at very many different levels. I mean, first of all, globalisation means that our societies, or one could even say our world, is being restructured. The way we live, the way we work, but even the way we think and therefore what in public health we call the determinants of health are being very heavily affected, in terms of who is able to work, what kind of work you can get, how you can live, urbanisation is one of these things that comes with globalisation, so that’s one level.

The other level of course is that globalisation means that people and things travel more and more quickly with great speed. We have to see that our food that comes from all parts of the world is safe. Obviously viruses can travel without having any concern for borders, but also if you think of the expansion of the tobacco trade, for example, how smoking is becoming an issue in many poor countries; you have this travelling of things and people. Then of course travelling of things and people also means, for the health services themselves, that things change.

One of the great problems for developing countries in a global world is that they lose their professionals, that there is a brain drain in the developing world that doctors and nurses go to countries where they have better working conditions and better income. And so you have this enormous change in both the rich, as we call them even though they don’t always feel rich, both the rich countries and the poor countries and, of course, as always there’s winners and losers of globalisation.