The health impacts of globalisation: a conceptual framework

Huynen, Maud MTE; Martens, Pim; Hilderink, Henk BM

The spread of infectious diseases is probably one of the most mentioned health effects of globalisation and past disease outbreaks have been linked to factors that are related to the globalisation process (see e.g. Newcomb [57] ). The recent outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) demonstrates the potential of new infectious diseases to spread rapidly in today's world, increasing the risk of a global pandemic. The combination of movement of goods ( Figure 3 ; arrow 10) and people ( Figure 3 ; arrow 11), and profound changes affecting ecosystem goods and services (Figure 3 ; arrow 12) all contribute to increased risk of disease spread [57] . For example, the globalisation of food production, trade and consumption has been associated with the increased spread and transmission of food born diseases [57, 58] . Diseases like HIV/AIDS or hepatitis B can also spread through trade in infected biological products (e.g. blood) [44] .