Global health diplomacy: a ‘Deus ex Machina’ for international development and relations; Comment on “A Ghost in the Machine? Politics in Global Health Policy”

Document Type: Commentary

Author

Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

Abstract

Brugha and Bruen (2014) raise a number of compelling issues related to the interaction between politics and policy in the global health context. The first question that their views invite is whether this is, at heart, best characterized as a benign or malign influence. Many commentators have suggested that this overlap should be discouraged (see, for example, Marseille et al 2002; Thomas & Weber 2004; Fidler 2011), while others advocate a decrease in 'stove-piped' or 'siloed' approaches to government, politics, and academia (Lee et al 2010; Feldbaum 2011). To use a parallel example, the world of sport has indirectly contributed a number of notable political advances, not least the end of apartheid in South Africa as a partial result of the ban imposed on their international teams (Nixon 2002). In spite of this, organizations such as FIFA refuse to be drawn into sanctioning international football teams on non-sporting grounds (Sobolev & Gazeta 2014). The future scope and role of global health will, inevitably, face corresponding challenges.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

1. Bruen C, Brugha R.  A Ghost in the Machine? Politics in Global Health Policy.  Int J Health Policy Manag 2014; 3: 1–4. doi:  10.15171/ijhpm.2014.59

2. Thomas C, Weber M. The Politics of Global Health Governance: Whatever Happened to “Health for All by the Year 2000”? Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations 2004; 10: 187-205.

3. Fidler D. The Rise and Fall of Global Health as a Foreign Policy Issue.  Global Health Governance 2011; 4: 10-8.

4. Lee K,  Novotny T.  Brazil and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Global Health Diplomacy as Soft Power. PLoS Med 2011; 7: e1000232. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000232

5. Feldbaum H, Michaud J. Health diplomacy and the enduring relevance of foreign policy interests. PLoS Med 2010; 7: e1000226. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000226

6. Nixon R.  Apartheid on the Run:  The South African Sports Boycott.  Transition 2002; 58: 68-88.

7. Sobolev I, Gazeta R.  FIFA turns down U.S. request to ban Russia from hosting the 2018 World Cup.  Russia Beyond the Headlines News Website [internet].  2014. Available from: http://rbth.com/news/2014/04/ 06/fifa_turns_down_us_request_to_ban_russia_from_hosting_the_2018_world_cup_35703.html

8. World Health Organization (WHO).  Global Health Diplomacy [internet].  2014. Available from:  http://www.who.int/trade/diplomacy/en/

9. Kevany S.  International access and global health diplomacy in Sudan.  The Lancet Global Health Blog [internet]. 2014. Available from:  http://globalhealth.thelancet.com/2014/05/02/international-access-and-global-health-diplomacy-sudan

10. Abouharb M, Cingranelli D. The Human Rights Effects of World Bank Structural Adjustment, 1981–2000.  Int Stud Q 2006; 50: 233–62. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2478.2006.00401.x

11. Katz R, Kornblet S, Arnold G, Lief E, Fischer J. Defining health diplomacy: Changing demands in the era of globalization. Milbank Q 2011; 89: 503–23. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0009.2011.00637.x

12. Farmer P. Colonial Roots of Global Health.  Harvard College Global Health Review [internet].  2009. Available from:   http://hcghr.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/colonial-roots-of-global-health/

13. United States Department of State.  About the Office of Global Health Diplomacy [internet].  2014. Available from:   http://www.state.gov/s/ghd/about/

14. Europa. Foreign and security policy: speaking with one voice. European Union policy document [internet]. 2010. Available from:   www.europa.eu/pol/cfsp/index_en.htm

15. United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office. What we do [internet]. 2013. Available from:   https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-office/about

16. The Guardian News Service.  Ugandan MPs rush through draconian laws against homosexuality. The Guardian [serial on the internet].  2013. Available from:   http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/20/uganda-mps-laws-homosexuality

17. Bailey S.  U.S. Evangelicals Forced On The Defensive Following Uganda's Anti-Gay Laws [internet]. 2013.  Available from:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/07/us-evangelicals-gay-laws_n_4899418.html

18. Buse K, Walt G.  An unruly mélange? Coordinating external resources to the health sector: A review.  Soc Sci Med 1997; 45: 449-63.

19. Weigratz J.  Rejecting the West on policy: Uganda, neoliberalism and the Anti-Homosexuality Bill [internet]. 2014. Available from:  http://africanarguments.org/2014/04/30/rejecting-the-west-on-policy-uganda-neoliberalism-and-the-anti-homosexuality-bill-by-jorg-wiegratz/

20. Kevany S, Jaf P, Workneh NG, Dalo MA, Tabena M, Rashid S, Al Hilfi TKY. Global health diplomacy in Iraq: International relations outcomes of multilateral tuberculosis programmes. Medicine, Conflict and Survival 2014; 30: 91-109. doi: 10.1080/13623699.2014.890827

21. Kevany S, Sahak O, Workneh NG, Saeedzai SA. Global health diplomacy investments in Afghanistan: Adaptations and outcomes of global fund malaria programs. Medicine, Conflict and Survival 2014; 30: 37–55. doi: 10.1080/13623699.2014.874187

22. Garmaise D.  Global Fund Takes Steps to Improve LFA Performance.  AIDSPAN Newsletter [serial on the internet]. 2011.  Available from: http://www.aidspan.org/gfo_article/global-fund-takes-steps-improve-lfa-performance

23. Macro International.  The Five-Year Evaluation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Synthesis of Study Areas 1, 2 and 3.  2009. Available from:  http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/terg/evaluations/5year/

24. Ryan L.  Evaluation of the Organizational Effectiveness of the Global Fund.  Macro International Review Document [internet].  2007. Available from:  www.theglobalfund.org/documents/terg/TERG_SA1_Report_en/

25. Kevany S. Global Health Diplomacy, ‘Smart Power’, and the New World Order. Glob Public Health 2014: 1-21. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2014.921219

 

 

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Volume 3, Issue 2
July 2014
Pages 111-112

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics