Global Health
Understanding global health isn’t just an academic exercise—it’s preparation for the world students are stepping into. Because global health sits at the intersection of science, history, and human decision-making, it belongs in every classroom.
These ready-to-use materials help students explore how diseases spread, how societies respond, and why access to care remains uneven across the globe. Through focused lesson plans, videos, and activities, students examine how health crises emerge and their global impacts.
Global Health Introductory Classroom Resources
New to teaching global health? Start here with introductory resources that build foundational knowledge of health systems, challenges, and solutions around the world.
Global Health: Crash Course Public Health
Video
Global Health: Crash Course Public Health
Disease doesn’t care about national borders. In this video, we’re traveling around the world to look at the struggles and triumphs of public health on a global scale.
Global Health and You
Activity
Global Health and You
How does your identity impact your health? Explore various aspects of who you are to see how different factors influence health and well-being.
How to Cut Child Mortality in Half Again
Article
How to Cut Child Mortality in Half Again
We already know how to save millions of lives. So what’s stopping us? Explore the road we’ve taken and what child mortality looks like today.
Teaching Global Health in a Science Classroom
Explore global health through real-world science topics like infectious disease, vaccination, and sanitation to understand how science impacts health outcomes around the world.
Everything is Tuberculosis
Video
Everything is Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis continues to kill over 1.5 million people each year despite the existence of a cure. Why has progress stalled, and what can its history teach us about moving forward?
The Plea
Video
The Plea
The eradication of smallpox is one of humanity’s greatest public health triumphs. What made it possible, and how can those lessons shape the fight against other diseases?
Why Haven’t We Eradicated Polio?
Video
Why Haven’t We Eradicated Polio?
We’ve had vaccines for the polio virus for almost 70 years. Why haven’t we been able to fully eradicate it from the globe?
A Better Way to Go
Activity
A Better Way to Go
What kind of stories can a toilet tell? More than you might think.
Dr. Yee’s Reinvented Toilet
Video
Dr. Yee’s Reinvented Toilet
New sanitation solutions are flush with innovation, and no laughing matter. Explore new and improved toilets that can prevent illness and death.
Reinventing the Toilet
Activity
Reinventing the Toilet
What’s the matter with poo? This activity uses the Dr. Yee video to get students thinking about sanitation solutions in a way that’s both creative and innovative.
Teaching Global Health and Climate Change
Discover how climate change is shaping global health, from extreme heat and its effect on food systems to the spread of disease and unequal health impacts around the world.
A Climate Future: Food Systems
Article
A Climate Future: Food Systems
How will a changing climate impact our food systems? Explore possible changes in the ways we grow plants and raise animals to feed a growing global population.
Data Investigation: Health
Activity
Data Investigation: Health
It’s gettin’ hot in here… Investigate data that shows how extreme heat and humidity may affect health outcomes in the future.
The Health Impact of Climate Change
Video
The Health Impact of Climate Change
Climate change will affect all of us, but it will have a particularly devastating impact on communities that are already disadvantaged. Explore how with this video.
The Health Impacts of Climate Change
Activity
The Health Impacts of Climate Change
Work through the concepts of direct and indirect impacts by researching one way in which climate change is impacting human health.
This Bites!
Infographic
This Bites!
Sharks? Snakes? Crocodiles? What’s the world’s deadliest pest, and how is climate change making it even stronger?
Climate and Health: What’s the Evidence
Activity
Climate and Health: What’s the Evidence
Use what you’ve learned in the infographic “This Bites!” and think about the many ways that climate change can make an existing threat worse.
Teaching Global Health in a History Classroom
Investigate how global health has evolved over time—from the Columbian Exchange and the Black Death to modern efforts to eradicate disease—and what these moments reveal about our world today.
The Columbian Exchange
Article
The Columbian Exchange
Christopher Columbus’s voyages to the Americas created new pathways of exchange between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas—for better and for worse.
The Columbian Exchange and Disease
Activity
The Columbian Exchange and Disease
Superspreader, anyone? Alongside crops and ideas, the Columbian Exchange also spread disease across continents. Explore its causes, consequences, and lasting impact today.
Technological Advances and Limitations: Eradicating Disease?
Article
Technological Advances and Limitations: Eradicating Disease?
Despite advances in technology and medicine, major challenges remain. Discover the history of disease eradication and what limits its success.
Trade Networks and the Black Death
Article
Trade Networks and the Black Death
The Black Death was caused by one huge empire and one tiny animal. It spread through trade networks across large portions of Afro-Eurasia, reshaping societies in every region it afflicted.
What Are You Trading?
Activity
What Are You Trading?
Time to practice your negotiation skills. Trade with peasants, merchants, and nobles to get what you want and need. Make sure to keep track of your trading partners.
Eradicating Smallpox
Video
Eradicating Smallpox
In 1980, humanity officially eradicated the dreaded smallpox virus. Dr. Larry Brilliant tells the long history of this unique accomplishment and what it means for the future.
Reading and Writing Activities for ELA Classrooms
Build literacy skills through global health topics as students analyze primary sources, evaluate evidence, and develop clear, evidence-based writing about disease, trade, and public health.
Source Collection: The Black Death
Article
Source Collection: The Black Death
The primary source excerpts in this collection help explain the origins and spread of the fourteenth-century Black Death.
Quick-Sourcing Activity
Activity
Quick-Sourcing Activity
Use the Quick-Sourcing Tool to analyze short excerpts about the Black Death, its causes, and how people experienced it in different places.
DBQ Sources: Health Impacts of Trade
Assessment
DBQ Sources: Health Impacts of Trade
Students analyze sources and gather evidence to support their arguments about the health impacts of exchange networks.
The Future of Public Health: Crash Course
Video
The Future of Public Health: Crash Course
We don't know what futuristic diseases we’ll encounter, but we have a pretty good idea of how to prepare for what could be next. Have students watch the video, then complete the activity.
Writing: The Future of Public Health
Activity
Writing: The Future of Public Health
Everyone grab a crystal ball: Your class will use what they’ve learned in the Future of Public Health video to look into the future of public health.
Writing: Health Impacts of Trade
Assessment
Writing: Health Impacts of Trade
Time to write! Students demonstrate their understanding of how trade impacts health by creating a written argument in response to the prompt.
Teaching Global Health in Government and Economics Classrooms
Examine how government policy and economic decisions shape global health, from disease eradication efforts to healthcare spending and international cooperation.
When Malaria Was an American Problem
Video
When Malaria Was an American Problem
Malaria plagued the United States for much of its history until public-health efforts eliminated it. What did that take—and how can other countries do the same today?
Lessons from Malaria
Activity
Lessons from Malaria
No fever dream here. Learn how malaria was eliminated in some places, and what it will take to get rid of it everywhere.
UN Sustainable Development Goals
Activity
UN Sustainable Development Goals
Dive into the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to see how countries team up to tackle the world’s biggest challenges—and decide which goals should top the list.
Healthcare Spending Data Exploration
Activity
Healthcare Spending Data Exploration
Dollars and sense: Discover the relationships between health-care spending, wealth, and inequality in health outcomes.
Welcome to the Next Phase of the Alzheimer’s Fight
Article
Welcome to the Next Phase of the Alzheimer’s Fight
Explore key advances from the past few years that are changing how Alzheimer’s disease is understood and treated.
Alvaro Sanchez, Implementing Green Policy (Graphic Biography)
Article
Alvaro Sanchez, Implementing Green Policy (Graphic Biography)
Policy advocates like Alvaro Sanchez are important contributors to getting climate change action on political agendas and working toward climate justice.