Though we live in a world where many fatal diseases are now preventable with simply a vaccine shot, the state of global health is ironically getting worse. In fact, a report from the World Health Organization shows that infectious diseases like malaria have been surging, childhood vaccination coverage has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, and without urgent course correction, countries risk losing the chance to prevent 700,000 maternal deaths and 8 million under-5 deaths between 2024 and 2030.
The World Health Organization further reports that 74% of global deaths are caused by noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Almost all of these can be prevented through early detection, lifestyle changes and improved access to regular medical care–a luxury for many living in medically underserved areas. The U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals also call for reducing health inequities, improving access to care, and giving equal educational opportunities to those who wish to advance themselves through self-improvement.
The clearest way high school students can solve global health issues is to be aware of them and gain exposure to the medical field early.
One opportunity to gain exposure to the medical field is with the University of California, Irvine’s Scientific Clinical Research Internship Program, which allows students to gain hands-on biomedical research experience in a faculty member’s laboratory. In addition, the UCI Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series gives students the chance to hear from leaders in health care and academia about novel research and insights.
For a more hands-on experience, the Children’s Hospital of Orange County Observer Program offers opportunities to shadow a physician or dentist and the Memorial Care Orange Coast Medical Center provides opportunities to volunteer in assisting with direct patient care and day-to-day hospital operations.
Beyond learning knowledge relevant to the medical field, even at the high school level, students can contribute to literature reviews, data analysis and scientific communication that can make a real-life impact in their field of interest.
The first step can be joining or leading student-run projects that assist underprivileged areas with limited healthcare resources, such as hosting workshops on nutrition or healthy habits, creating accessible resources for people to receive healthcare education or organizing hygiene kits for unhoused communities.
Our current decade is a rare time where technologies needed to make a tangible change in medicine are available to high school students. What better time than now?
For more information about these opportunities, students can go to Club Med meetings every odd Thursday in Room 1225.
Disclaimer: Madeline Cheng, the author for this article, is the president of Club Med.
