Global Health: It Matters Now More Than Ever.

As the recent Ebola epidemic demonstrated, the world is not only smaller than ever, but it is also more intricately connected. Exotic diseases once confined to the third or developing world are now everyone's concern. Global has truly become local. Having some knowledge of and com-petencies in global health is not only relevant , but also essential, for every family physician. Many family physicians work in remote areas of the world delivering direct patient care, teaching, promoting the specialty of family medicine, and designing regional and national health care systems. Many more work at home with multicultural, socioeconomically diverse patient populations. A survey of U.S. clini-cians in various specialties noted respon-dents' beliefs that global health work is " synergistic with physicians' work in the United States, " and can inform and enhance their work domestically. 1 Table 1 provides resources for opportunities in global health. Family physicians may also want to consider attending a global health conference or meeting for networking purposes ; resources are provided in Table 2. Table 3 lists nongovernmental and other organizations that offer service trips or networking opportunities. More than 40 million immigrants have made the United States their home for a variety of reasons, including those that are economic-and education-based. 2 More than 3 million refugees have arrived in the United States since 1975, 3 with nearly 90,000 persons seeking asylum in 2012 alone, 4 and almost 70,000 new refugees arriving in 2013 as part of the U.S. Department of State's resettlement program. 5 Family physicians and family medicine residents will encounter persons Interactive atlas that allows searches of family medicine programs around the world AAFP Foundation Family Medicine Cares International Program that delivers patient care and provides medical resources for persons in need around the world Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Group on Global Health Links to family physicians practicing around the world AAFP = American Academy of Family Physicians; WONCA = World Organization of Family Doctors.