It is undeniable that there are global health disparities, ranging from basic health care to access to advanced medical procedures. Conversations surrounding the causes of these health inequalities often blame several different sources, with government agencies presumably being the largest force. However, with this argument, the case for globalization being a factor is often overlooked. Personally, I never would have thought that globalization may result in weaker health outcomes; I imagined that the expansion of knowledge would translate to other communities and bring further advancement in all facets, including health care. But while globalization can often have a positive connotation like the one I pictured, I quickly learned when when paired with neoliberalism actually threatens health and well-being of communities. In Robert De Vogli's article, "Neoliberal Globalization and Health in a Time of Economic Crisis," he assessed how the dramatic shift to a neoliberalist market heavily impacted the health of many countries. I was so shocked reading that reforms being made by the IMF, WTO, and World Bank to help shift to a free market actually produced negative health effects and caused a reduction in world gains of economic growth and life expectancy. As I continued reading, I was perplexed by the neoliberal institutions that continued to claim their actions promote economic growth and good health outcomes, even with evidence showing otherwise. However, what I was not surprised about was the populations most effected by the neoliberal push for a free market. Third world country were directly impacted by the actions of these organizations; they experienced decreased life expectancy, increased mortality rate, vulnerability to fatal diseases, rising poverty and unemployment rates, among other things. Furthermore, as economic inequality continued to rise, life expectancy dropped almost three years. 

My knowledge of how the world works to benefit those in power did not come from this article, but is rather something I have learned throughout my entire time as a student. My understanding of it, however, has deepened immensely. What I have taken away from this article is that people in control of reforms and political action often do not have the interest of those in a lower status than them in mind, and that leaves room for large scale problems like the health care ones mentioned in this article to take form. I see now that neoliberalism does the exact opposite of what it says it will, and that is shown very clearly in this article. My point of view has always been that all individuals deserve and have a right to adequate health care regardless of where they come from, and while this article did not spark that point of view, it reaffirmed it. By seeing what a free market world is capable of doing to underdeveloped nations only strengthens my opinions on globalization with regards to health care.