Global health is dependent on multiple interconnected factors, such as the availability of a healthcare workforce, training, infrastructure, but also environmental factors such as climate change, public health behaviors, and the behavior of our governments and corporations. Each of the systems, health, economic, political, are interdependent and can be highly influenced by public opinion and misinformation.
The current pandemic has shown how quickly global health problems can spread, how highly interdependent our systems are, and the high impact of misinformation on our society and future directions. We are only as strong as our weakest link.
Games for health could educate and motivate behavior change on various health threats both domestically and globally. Now, more than ever, we need the public, governments, and corporations to change how we manage our health systems, our consumerism, and our global agreements.
Games for Global Health is a call to action to develop engaging games to educate the public, government leaders, and business leaders. It seeks to change our current path of behavior, which will not sustain our planet. We will need to implement changes more rapidly if we are to avoid catastrophic problems in the health and sustainability of our world.
The lack of reliable real-time global health data makes it challenging to learn how to detect global health problems such as pandemics. The misinformation about pandemics makes implementing effective public health measures difficult.
Climate change is already causing millions to relocate, and climate refugees will become more common. Part of the world is already too hot to live and sustain agriculture, and water and land disputes will become more common. Dust from dry lakes is already causing environmental problems and health problems.
From accidents to war, nuclear and chemical threats can pose the greatest threats to our existential future. Yet, we are making little progress in disarmament, and few even want to discuss how we would manage to survive if there was a global biological war or nuclear war.
These global health threats, which seemed unlikely decades ago, are becoming more likely and, in some cases, a reality for millions. Will you join a movement for games for global health?
We will need various stakeholders, from game developers, academics, public health advocates, government, and corporate leaders, to create strategies for educating and motivating others to understand these threats and what we can do as individuals, organizations, and countries. Our world is interdependent, and we will run out of time if we don't act faster and with more impact.
I am Yuri Quintana, Ph.D., and I want to connect with others who want to use games for global health change and create an online community to share knowledge and implementation strategies. I will be giving a keynote talk (available here) on this topic at IEEE SGH 2021 Conference and posting updates on my twitter page, but we can do more if we connect with each other and share with others what we can do together. Please be sure to look for more updates on this page from the resources that others send in.
Join the movement below.