Learning to think globally

From stereotypes to broadening perspectives

Through my work with international organizations, I have had the opportunity to meet, work with and become friends with people from different countries and cultural backgrounds. Those experiences have profoundly shaped my worldview. They taught me how important it is to question my assumptions about places I had never lived in and to become genuinely curious about learning from the people who know them best.  

Later on, I discovered the work of Hans Rosling, and many of the lessons I had learned through experience found an intellectual foundation. Through memorable TED Talks and books, he challenged the simplistic and erroneous distinction between “developed” and “developing” countries. Using indicators such as maternal mortality, vaccination rates and under-five mortality, he showed how socioeconomic conditions had changed dramatically across the world, and how countries were far more diverse and dynamic than the categories often used to describe them. His work demonstrated how outdated narratives persist when we rely on labels instead of evidence, and why understanding global health requires context and an appreciation for how societies have evolved.

As I continued exploring these ideas, I began reflecting not only on how we understand the world, but also on who shapes that understanding. This question lies at the heart of the growing movement to decolonize global health. Although there is no single definition, I came to understand it as a challenge to the historical power dynamics that continue to shape the field. Research agendas, funding priorities and governance mechanisms have largely been set by institutions in high-income countries, while the voices and expertise of those working in the communities most affected have often been overlooked.

I recognized these dynamics in my own work. While developing educational resources in global health and collaborating with students from different parts of the world, I realized how easily we reproduced these patterns. Because much of the literature originates from high-income countries, examples from those settings naturally became the default. When other countries were discussed, they were often portrayed through deficits and disease rather than innovation or expertise, even when the authors themselves came from those countries. Recognizing this, we made a deliberate effort to seek out examples that challenged these assumptions and showed that valuable ideas, innovations and solutions can emerge from both high- and low-income countries.

When I began my Master’s in Public Health, I expected to find these same principles reflected in practice. Instead, some situations reminded me just how relevant the movement of decolonize global health remains. The program actively recruited students from Lusophone countries with the aim of training public health professionals who would return to strengthen health systems in their home countries, while also enriching everyone’s learning experience through diverse perspectives. Yes many of these students received little support navigating the visa process and practical challenges of studying abroad. Some professors would also routinely turn to these students and reduce their countries and experiences to stereotypes about HIV, malaria or tuberculosis.

These moments did not define the program, nor do I believe they were intentional. But they did reveal how easily it is to reinforce inequities and perpetuate narrow narratives. Inviting students from different parts of the world is an important initial step, but truly thinking globally requires seeing them not as representatives of stereotyped realities, but as colleagues whose experiences and expertise can challenge and enrich our own.

Public health requires us to understand health through context, systems and equity. Doing so means listening to the people who know those contexts best and allowing their experiences to challenge our own assumptions. I would argue that this responsibility extends beyond public health. In an increasingly interconnected world, learning to think globally is not simply a professional skill, it is a mindset that allows us to better understand one another.

Rejecting that is missing out on the people, ideas and perspectives that the world has to offer.