{"id":1254,"date":"2018-04-13T13:09:09","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T13:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/case-reports\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2018-04-13T13:09:09","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T13:09:09","slug":"making-a-difference-with-individual-patients-health-equity-power-and-dignity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/case-reports\/2018\/04\/13\/making-a-difference-with-individual-patients-health-equity-power-and-dignity\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a Difference with Individual Patients-Health Equity, Power, and Dignity"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nathan Douthit<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0At another session of CUGH\u2019s Annual Meeting<\/a>, Richard Horton, Editor in Chief of the Lancet, debated Cheryl Heaton, director of New York University\u2019s Global Institute of Public Health, on the subject: Equity is the defining objective of global health in the 21st century<\/strong>. Heaton argued in favour of the motion, saying that our past neglect has created high reservoirs of need around the world. She made the point that equity creates hope and optimism in vulnerable populations, which turn motivate their ability to bring about change.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0While Horton agreed that equity is a valuable and admirable goal, he argued that global health, as it is currently framed, makes this impossible to achieve. He argued that global health \u201cis not about equity; it is about power\u201d, with power held by the privileged. He continued \u201cbefore there can be equity, individuals must have liberty and power over their lives.\u201d Further, liberty requires that all humans be recognized for their dignity. Dignity affirms that every individual is an end unto themselves; not a means to our ends. \u201cWithout dignity, there can be no equity.\u201d Horton concluded that our obligation is to challenge authorities that deny liberty. We must discharge this obligation if we are to see the dignity of individual patients recognized.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0BMJ Case Reports<\/a> is committed to recognizing the dignity and worth of individual patients. Our case reports focus on patients at the center of clinical medicine and global health. While our clinical case reports highlight the challenges of dealing with disease, our global health case reports shed light on the determinants of health and disease: the environments in which patients live and work; education and financial well-being; access to healthcare; local and national politics; instability and conflict; the practice of corporations and industry; and, ethnic and cultural histories. Our authors argue for better living conditions and improvements in health at the level of the individual \u2013 working towards global health one patient at a time. Each patient is an end unto themselves. We encourage our authors to work with their patients in writing each global health case report and want to be not merely a repository of global health problems and solutions but a repository of patient voices from across the world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0BMJ Case Reports invites authors to submit global health case reports that give voice to individual patients and uphold their dignity. These reports should examine the determinants of health:<\/p>\n