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Preface xiii natural disasters, has led to astronomical health disparities in Haiti. According to the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD 2019), lower respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, and diarrheal diseases are leading causes of death. These diseases are primarily due to socioeconomic disparity and are easily pre- ventable by ensuring access to quality health care, including reproductive, prena- tal, and perinatal care, as well as improved drinking water and sanitation systems. Haiti also suffers from a growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, both related to modernization and a diet rich in fat, sugar, and salt. A major contributor to metabolic disorders in Haiti is the consumption of sugary beverages such as soda and fruit juice, almost all of which are imported from wealthier nations. Around the world, many countries bear a double burden of colonialism past and present. One example is South Africa, which remains a colonial country, with white Europeans in positions of privilege and power at the expense of Black Afri- cans who are systematically oppressed. Another example is that of neocolonial- ism, which is defined as the use of globalized economies and cultural imperialism to influence former colonies or countries that are of a lower-economic status and/ or former dependents. This disruption and manipulation tends to flow from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern and from Westernized European nations outward. One example of neocolonialism that has a significant impact on global health is the exportation of processed convenience foods by large Northern corpo- rations such as the Swiss group, Nestlé, around the globe. Since the mid-twentieth century, the introduction of cheap convenience foods has displaced traditional foodways and agricultural systems and resulted in high rates of NCD. In the Mar- shall Islands, for example, the American occupation of the Mid-Pacific Corridor since the mid-twentieth century introduced the Marshallese to convenience foods such as Spam instant ramen sugary beverages and other snacks high in fat, salt, and sugar. This has led to an epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in a region with few health care resources available to Indigenous populations. In addition, processed food come in extensive packaging, resulting in large amounts of municipal waste on islands without sufficient waste management systems. This has led to extensive environmental degradation, further damaging population health. This pattern is seen in countries around the world and is particularly dam- aging when cheap convenience foods completely replace sustainable food sources, which leads to a dependence on imported goods for survival. Neocolonialism can take many forms, including the exportation of Western biomedicine. Late-nineteenth-century tropical medicine, for example, was inte- grally bound to Western imperialism and colonialism. The primary goal of tropi- cal medicine was to protect and preserve the vulnerable bodies of white settlers, thereby facilitating colonial settlement. Tropical medicine was not concerned with the study and cure of diseases in Indigenous populations, who were seen not as human beings but as natural resources for exploitation. In other contexts, Western medicine itself became a pathway to colonialism. Founded on racist ideologies, Western and predominantly white countries believed themselves to be agents of civilization, bringing modern infrastructure and medicine to cultures deemed “undeveloped” or “uncivilized.” This sentiment unfortunately prevails in many