There a number of other books that should also be included on this list, but as a starter, these are a few that I hope will help inspire and challenge you.
1. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kiddler
If I was to be a fan girl of anybody, I would definitely be one for Paul Farmer. I once had the opportunity to hear him speak at the American Public Health Association Conference in Boston. I was inspired and amazed. The one thing that stuck in my mind from his speech was that programs could not be successful without addressing the underlying problem of hunger and poverty.
Here is a quick description of the book from Goodreads: At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life’s calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. This magnificent book shows how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and it also shows how a meaningful life can be created, as Farmer—brilliant, charismatic, charming, both a leader in international health and a doctor who finds time to make house calls in Boston and the mountains of Haiti—blasts through convention to get results. Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity"—a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners in Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.’s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world.
At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb "Beyond mountains there are mountains": as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.
2. The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates
My dream is to work for is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I had first heard of them while studying for my Masters in Public Health through a New York Times article. It seemed to me then (and still today) that they were willing to tackle on some of the greatest global health problems through innovation and a better and genuine understanding of the populations they want to serve. This book helps to highlight their work and how at the core of their many initiatives is the empowerment of women.
Here is a brief description of the book from Goodreads:
In this candid and inspiring book, Gates traces her awakening to the link between women's empowerment and the health of societies. She shows some of the tremendous opportunities that exist right now to “turbo-charge" change. And she provides simple and effective ways each one of us can make a difference.
Convinced that all women should be free to decide whether and when to have children, Gates took her first step onto the global stage to make a stand for family planning. That step launched her into further efforts: to ensure women everywhere have access to every kind of job; to encourage men around the globe to share equally in the burdens of household work; to advocate for paid family leave for everyone; to eliminate gender bias in all its forms.
Throughout, Gates introduces us to her heroes in the movement towards equality, offers startling data, shares moving conversations she's had with women from all over the world—and shows how we can all get involved.
3. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Docotors and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman
This is a story about how different cultural beliefs and value systems create barriers to getting medical treatment. More importantly, it is a lesson in understanding the cultural construct of illness and disease across different populations in order to promote effective medical care; but in the grander sense, can be applied to how we approach global health initiatives. {Wow, that's a mouthful!!!}
Here is a brief description from Goodreads:
Lia Lee was born in 1982 to a family of recent Hmong immigrants, and soon developed symptoms of epilepsy. By 1988 she was living at home but was brain dead after a tragic cycle of misunderstanding, over-medication, and culture clash: "What the doctors viewed as clinical efficiency the Hmong viewed as frosty arrogance." The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, written with the deepest of human feeling. Sherwin Nuland said of the account, "There are no villains in Fadiman's tale, just as there are no heroes. People are presented as she saw them, in their humility and their frailty—and their nobility.
4. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund
Do you ever read the news and want to hide because you are simply overwhelmed by the magnitude of the world's problems? Do you think it is all hopeless and that we are closer to doom than ever before in the history of man? This is the book for you! The world is not as scary of a place as we think it is, but rather over time, we have made great strides in reducing poverty, child mortality, and violence - to name a few. Hans Rosling presents data in a comprehensive way and doesn't rose color the facts. He explains that in global health there is a paradox of things being bad but also getting better. But don't dare call him an optimist, rather he views the world as a "possiblilist". It is best if he explains:
“People often call me an optimist, because I show them the enormous progress they didn't know about. That makes me angry. I'm not an optimist. That makes me sound naive. I'm a very serious “possibilist”. That’s something I made up. It means someone who neither hopes without reason, nor fears without reason, someone who constantly resists the overdramatic worldview. As a possibilist, I see all this progress, and it fills me with conviction and hope that further progress is possible. This is not optimistic. It is having a clear and reasonable idea about how things are. It is having a worldview that is constructive and useful.”
If you are interesting in more of Hans Rosling's work, here is a link to his organization Gap Minder.
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