Is It About The 'Where' Or Thsare 'How'? Comment On Defining Global Health As Public Health Somewhere Else

### Summary box\n\nA recent commentary by King and Koski1 proffers a parsimonious definition of global health: as ‘public health somewhere else’ (emphasis in original). The authors describe how this definition highlights the underlying assumptions and normative issues that emerge when considering the practice of public health outside one’s home community. While we agree with many of the points made by the authors, we feel as though this was a missed opportunity to push the definition of global health forward applying systems thinking. This commentary first addresses the points of convergence and divergence with the original article’s main arguments. We then suggest why the definition presented does not do justice to the dynamism of global health. Finally, we conclude with a revised definition and discussion on what such a definition should encompass.\n\nThe authors raise relevant and justifiable concerns regarding some common assumptions among global health practitioners. First, we agree that the oft-assumed ‘expertise gradient’ is problematic and maintains an ill-conceived notion of the foreign expert. This presumes that global health is practised by foreign experts in distant …