For the fifth time, the annual student-led Global Health Conference will take place at the University of Saskatchewan, offering all students the opportunity to connect with professionals and each other on the topic of health care worldwide.

This year the conference will be held on Oct. 1 and will focus on sustainability in response to the Sustainable Development Goals released by the United Nations in 2015. At the conference, a wide variety of issues will be addressed, including poverty, food security, health care, resources, peace and justice, the environment and sustainability in global partnerships. Due to this wide spectrum of themes, the conference may appeal to many different students, not only those in health care studies.

Dylan Ginter and Jake Choi are third-year medical students and co-chairs of the planning committee, along with one other chair, Emily Lauren-Simms, a second-year medical student. According to Ginter and Choi, the broad topic of sustainability will allow many students to benefit from the upcoming conference.

“The crowd that usually comes is medical students, but we also get people from nursing, pharmacy, social work, sometimes dentistry, but with this year’s theme the conference is pretty broad and we are expecting people from the other disciplines too — like engineering, public policy, environmental studies, toxicology — anyone can come,” Ginter said.

According to Ginter, some noted physicians will also attend the conference to discuss global health topics.

“Dr. Alaa Murabit, UN high level commissioner and one of only 17 sustainable development goal global advocates appointed by the UN secretary general, [will be] touching on the sustainable development goals highlighted by the UN this year … and Dr. Courtney Howard is an emergency department doctor in Yellowknife, [N.W.T.], and she’s the Climate-Health Board Lead for the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment,” Ginter said. “She will be shining a light on how to go forward with sustainability with our environment and with climate change.”

Ginter believes that the after-effects of coming to the conference are positive, regardless of discipline.

“Coming to this conference can open up your perspectives to things that are going on in the world, make you more aware and potentially get you more involved to help in society in whatever capacity you have been gifted [or] in whatever specialty or degree you’re getting. Students can expect to have their minds opened. Even if they don’t get any application from it, it’s still good to know, to witness and to learn … about it and to get a broader perspective on society,” Ginter said.

Choi mentions that global health is much more than the stereotypes people assume, and that it also comes with problems of its own.

“From the past, I think a lot of people’s understanding about global health is that a rich country goes over to help another and help them get better. They treat the disease, give medicine and they’ll get better, but the problem with this is that they haven’t been sustainable … that’s why the UN announced the sustainable development goals,” Choi said.

Ginter agrees with Choi and adds that global health is much more encompassing than normally assumed, yet still close to home.

“It’s not just poor people in some other developing country … My definition of global health is really anyone who is affected disproportionately from whatever social determinant that put them at a disadvantage in society that has an ill effect on their health. We see that everywhere in Saskatoon, with more people living in the poor neighborhoods, people not being able to access treatment, people who don’t have good jobs and can’t afford or access proper nutrition. There’s lots of social determinants of health which are impacting these people’s lives,” Ginter said.

He stresses the importance of attending the Global Health Conference, and he feels that all students should care about issues of health and sustainability.

“I believe we all have a responsibility to help each other in any capacity we have.”

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Shyann Vaskevicius

Image: Lesia Karalash / Graphics Editor