Global health and wellbeing is a name that has been proposed by Open Philanthropy for the broad approach to cause prioritization within effective altruism that focuses on doing good in the near term.[1][2] Other names for this approach include short-termism, neartermism, non-longtermism, and global wellbeing. Some consider these designations to be inaccurate or misleading, because they overemphasize temporal discounting and overlook its other defining characteristics, such as tight feedback loops, non-fanaticism, and tangible impact.[1][2][3]
Global health and wellbeing may be contrasted to longtermism, which evaluates causes based on their expected effects on the long-term future.
Prominent causes within global health and wellbeing include scientific research, policy advocacy, farmed animal welfare, and global development.
Further reading
Wiblin, Robert & Keiran Harris (2021) Alexander Berger on improving global health and wellbeing in clear and direct ways, 80,000 Hours, July 12.
Related entries
criticisms of longtermism and existential risk studies | farmed animal welfare | global health and development | longtermism | metascience | policy
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Wiblin, Robert & Keiran Harris (2021) Alexander Berger on improving global health and wellbeing in clear and direct ways, 80,000 Hours, July 12.
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Karnofsky, Holden (2021) Open Philanthropy’s new co-CEO, Open Philanthropy, June 16.
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Reinstein, David (2022) Can we agree on a better name than ‘near-termist’? “Not-longermist”? “Not-full-longtermist”?, Effective Altruism Forum, April 19.