Pacific Rim Global Health Framework

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Nowhere are the effects of globalization more prominent than in developing nations of the Pacific Rim, where dramatic increases in prosperity together with rapid widening of economic disparities have created significant new challenges to the public health. Understanding the complexities and multidimensional aspects of global health necessitates the integration of a wide range of disciplines to advance science, inform policy and, improve health and well being. The University of Southern California Pacific Rim Global Health Framework (USC-PRGHF) brings together world class faculty from the Schools of Medicine, Social Work, Gerontology, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Engineering, Policy- Planning-Development, Law, Communication, Cinema-TV, and College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, to collaborate with other Pacific Rim academic and public health institutions in the development of new and expansion of already existing interdisciplinary curricula and training programs to foster training for a new generation of global health specialists. The broad theme of the USC-PRGHF is: Health promotion in developing Asia Pacific Rim nations, amid rapid cultural, social, and environmental change arising from economic and social transition. Over the three years of the PRGHF, research and training core activities will follow several threads all linked to the relationship between lifestyle and health outcomes with increasing transitions related largely to global and economic influences, including westernization. Building upon our USC Pacific Rim Transdisciplinary Tobacco and Alcohol Use Research Center (TTAURC) work in China, initial PRGHF activities will expand the number of disciplines, faculty, and students involved in tobacco- related research. Future threads will expand our work in obesity, HIV prevention, and environmental health. At the outset, PRGHF activities will focus on China, India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, expanding almost immediately to other developing nations of Asia through our established academic and research networks, and eventually to island nations of the Pacific and Latin America. Guiding the PRGHF will be an administrative structure overseen by faculty with experience in global research and training along with active participation and input from our international collaborators. The objectives of the PRGHF are in line with the University's long-range plans for continuing academic involvement and investment in the Pacific Rim.