At first glance, the contents of this week’s readings present very different scenarios of health and health care for countries of the developed world, including the US (in Crisp 2010), and developing world, including Bangladesh and Haiti,(in Crisp 2010 and Farmer 2005). Yet both authors set their analyses in the context of global health and the interconnections within and between developed and developing countries. Your task for the Week One essay is to do the readings carefully and consider what those interconnections are. These make health problems in all these countries ultimately relevant to all of us; thus, we refer to them as global health issues. There are three steps you need to take to writing a strong paper. STEP ONE: Explore this COVID-19 interactive link https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html. Observe the data available in all continents. Pay special attention to developed(richer) and developing (poorer) countries and compare their situations. Pick a couple of very specific examples from the link and discuss them briefly. STEP TWO: Select one of the following examples discussed in the readings, either the “water refugees” in Haiti (in Farmer’s book), or the impoverished rural Bangladeshis (in Crisp’s book), and present the case, keeping in mind its connection to structural violence, which is the central concept we are addressing this week. STEP THREE: Answer the following question: Why should the poor health of Haitians’ “water refugees,” OR of impoverished rural Bangladeshis matter to us in the U.S. Here you bring it altogether taking into consideration the conditions we are experiencing under COVID-19. 

We will continue exploring resources and information about COVID-19 as the course progresses. 

Note: This is how should you format your paper:

1. Give a title to your paper (i.e. “Week One Paper”; “Understanding Global Health…”; ext.) 
2. Length: 2 page long, not including List of References, which you need to add at the end (see syllabus for more details).  About 1-2 paragraphs per each of the steps you are required to address for the paper.
3. Double-space text with Times New Roman font size 12.
4. Personal Details: ALWAYS include your full name and student number in your weekly papers.
5. Remember to demonstrate that you have carefully and thoroughly done the required readings. ALWAYS acknowledge your sources in-text AND in the List of References at the end (see syllabus for more detail).