Davina Finn is a first year student interested in pursuing life sciences. She is striving towards medical school and loves volunteering, trying new things and traveling. She has done volunteering in Nicaragua with the organization Volunteer Abroad from February 15 – 26th 2008.

Globalization creates and propagates social and health inequalities, constituting one part of the argument of its numerous detractors. Jamaica is one of several countries in which policies to promote economic and social development have resulted in the deterioration of health and wellbeing for its populace. The processes of globalization, namely structural adjustment policies, trade liberalization, free trade zones, and privatization, impede the economic and social growth of developing nations, causing deleterious effects on public health.

Queen’s Health Outreach, or QHO, is a student-run organization that promotes both individual and community health through various local and international projects. This volunteer-based organization strives to promote and uphold the World Health Organization’s definition of health as, “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” through an emphasis on education.

Jenny Harris, a Kingston native, graduated from Queen’s in 2006 with a degree in Physical Education and Life Sciences. She has volunteered in the Kingston community through a number of local organizations. As a Queen’s student, she was a Varsity athlete in Track and Field and Cross Country, acting as a team captain in her final year. Last summer, she partook in volunteer work abroad in Namibia from July 2006 to July 2007 through the Canada Commonwealth Games. Jenny worked with a local NGO called Physically Active Youth (PAY) in Namibia. For further questions about Jenny’s experience, she can be contacted at jenny_709@hotmail.com.

When assessing the health care approaches of developed nations, few take the time to make comparisons to the practices of under-developed or developing nations. But delve deeper into the mechanisms of action from certain countries and one might find that neither Canada, nor the United States of America, two economic powerhouses, can compete with health figures in Cuba. As a communist nation, Cuba’s political environment has long been a topic of debate. What is indisputable, however, is the strong commitment of Cuba’s government to the well-being of its citizens with respect to health. The systems that have long been in place in Cuba to ensure a high level of care may be instructive to developed nations who are seeking innovation and efficiency in a health care model.