Governance Challenges in Global Health

2013

Global health is at the threshold of a new era. Few times in history has the world faced challenges as complex as those now posed by a trio of threats: first, the unfinished agenda of infections, undernutrition, and reproductive health problems; second, the rising global burden of noncommunicable diseases and their associated risk factors, such as smoking and obesity; and third, the challenges arising from globalization itself, such as the health effects of climate change and trade policies, which demand engagement outside the traditional health sector.1 These threats are evolving within a multifaceted and dynamic global context characterized by great diversity among societies in norms, values, and interests, as well as by large inequalities in the distribution of health risks and the resources to address them. A robust response to this complex picture requires improved governance of health systems — certainly at the national level but also at a worldwide level in what could be thought of as the “global health system.” However, the concept of governance is still poorly understood despite its growing visibility in current debates about global health. In this article, we define and discuss the importance of good global governance for health, outline major challenges to such governance, and describe the necessary functions of a global health system.

Twiter Facebook LinkedIn

PDF

You may also be interested in

Introduction and… The Health Diplomacy of Diversity

Negotiating Health Development: A Guide for Practitioners

Negotiating Public Health in a Globalized World: Global Health Diplomacy in Action

Governing global health: Is Europe ready?

The globalization of public health: the first 100 years of international health diplomacy

Global threats to public health in the 19th century sparked the development of international health diplomacy. Many international regimes on public health issues were created between the mid-19th and mid20th centuries. The present article analyses the global risks in this field and the international legal responses to them between 1851 and 1951, and explores the lessons from the first century of international health diplomacy of relevance to contemporary efforts to deal with the globalization of public health.

Global Health, Aid Effectiveness and the Changing Role of the WHO

Power: The nexus of global health diplomacy?

Negotiating and Navigating Global Health: Case Studies in Global Health Diplomacy

Global Health and the Foreign Policy Agenda

Global health diplomacy: Advancing foreign policy and global health interests

Attention to global health diplomacy has been rising but the future holds challenges, including a difficult budgetary environment. Going forward, both global health and foreign policy practitioners would benefit from working more closely together to achieve greater mutual understanding and to advance respective mutual goals.

Health as foreign policy

The Grand Decade for Global Health: 1998-2008

Global Health Diplomacy: Concepts, Issues, Actors, Instruments, Fora and Cases

Global health diplomacy: How foreign policy can influence health

Ilona Kickbusch argues that public health experts need to work with diplomats in order to achieve global health goals.

Global environmental diplomacy: Comparing and sharing

Health diplomacy in the 21st century

From sovereignty to solidarity: A renewed concept of global health for an era of complex interdependence

Negotiating the International Health Regulations

What’s the World Health Organization For?

Enyclopedia of International Development

Global Health and Foreign Policy

How should the WHO reform: An analysis and review of literature

Global health diplomacy: The need for new perspectives, strategic approaches and skills in global health

Assessing implementation mechanisms for an international agreement on research and development for health products

The Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) are currently debating the substance and form of an international agreement to improve the financing and coordination of research and development (R&D) for health products that meet the needs of developing countries. In addition to considering the content of any possible legal or political agreement, Member States may find it helpful to reflect on the full range of implementation mechanisms available to bring any agreement into effect. These include mechanisms for states to make commitments, administer activities, manage financial co...

The Global Health System: Actors, Norms, and Expectations in Transition

21st century health diplomacy: A new relationship between foreign policy and health

What is Global Health Diplomacy? A Conceptual Review

Adoption and adaptation of e-health systems for developing nations: The case of Botswana (Research by Benson Ncube)

This paper seeks appropriate solutions to improve the access and capability of the health delivery systems in Botswana. The research reveals that many countries are now using information-based services to assist in the administration and delivery of medical services via telecommunication infrastructures.

A Game Change in Global Health. The Best is Yet to Come

Health will continue to gather strength as a global public domain if it links itself strategically with other transnational agendas and strengthens its political ability to produce global public goods for health. Three new political spaces offer opportunities to take the global health agenda a significant step forward: the emerging new development paradigm, the post-2015 debates at the United Nations and the dynamics created through the increasing trans-border health challenges the World Health Organization (WHO) must deal with under conditions of globalization.

A New Governance Space for Health

Global Health Action is an international journal publishing research in the field of global health, addressing transnational health and policy issues.