Contents

## **Preface XI**


Chapter 6 **The Impact of National Militaries on Global Health 85** Kip R. Thompson

Preface

The differences between "international health" and "global health" are not well defined; many use the terms interchangeably. Both fields seek to address health issues that cross bor‐ ders and present hazards to diverse populations across the continents and the world. For some public health workers, international health addresses issues for all other countries ex‐ cept the one in which an individual public health worker resides. This definition is not very useful as it depends strictly on an individual's perspective. Some observers have suggested that global health requires a multi-disciplinary perspective to trans-border health issues, in‐ cluding fields such as anthropology, psychology, engineering, law, history, clinical medicine and, of course, public health. This definition seems more useful and is consistent with the current volume entitled *Current Issues in Global Health*. The chapters presented here include examples from the fields of medicine, psychology, military public health and humanitarian relief…even business. What ties them together is a focus on human health and efforts to en‐ sure health through good science and well-designed research. The very nature of the field of global health requires researchers and practitioners from many lands who speak different languages to communicate in a common medium. That communication is often imperfect, but no less important. This book seeks to provide a medium for communication across lan‐

> **David Claborn, DrPH** CDR USN (ret.)

Master of Public Health Program Missouri State University, USA

guages and cultures on topics of global health importance.
