Home Articles List Article Information
International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Journal Archive
Volume Volume 7 (2018)
Volume Volume 6 (2017)
Volume Volume 5 (2016)
Volume Volume 4 (2015)
Volume Volume 3 (2014)
Volume Volume 2 (2014)
Volume Volume 1 (2013)
Steurs, L., Van de Pas, R., Delputte, S., Orbie, J. (2018). The Global Health Policies of the EU and its Member States: A Common Vision?. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 7(5), 433-442. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2017.112
Lies Steurs; Remco Van de Pas; Sarah Delputte; Jan Orbie. "The Global Health Policies of the EU and its Member States: A Common Vision?". International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 7, 5, 2018, 433-442. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2017.112
Steurs, L., Van de Pas, R., Delputte, S., Orbie, J. (2018). 'The Global Health Policies of the EU and its Member States: A Common Vision?', International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 7(5), pp. 433-442. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2017.112
Steurs, L., Van de Pas, R., Delputte, S., Orbie, J. The Global Health Policies of the EU and its Member States: A Common Vision?. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 2018; 7(5): 433-442. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2017.112

The Global Health Policies of the EU and its Member States: A Common Vision?

Article 7, Volume 7, Issue 5, May 2018, Page 433-442  XML PDF (637 K)
Document Type: Original Article
DOI: 10.15171/ijhpm.2017.112
Authors
Lies Steurs1; Remco Van de Pas 2, 3, 4; Sarah Delputte1; Jan Orbie1
1Centre for EU Studies, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
2Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
3Centre for Global Health Research, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
4Clingendael, Netherlands Institute of International Relations, The Hague, The Netherlands
Abstract
Background
This article assesses the global health policies of the European Union (EU) and those of its individual member states. So far EU and public health scholars have paid little heed to this, despite the large budgets involved in this area. While the European Commission has attempted to define the ‘EU role in Global Health’ in 2010, member states are active in the domain of global health as well. Therefore, this article raises the question to what extent a common ‘EU’ vision on global health exists.

 
Methods
This is examined through a comparative framing analysis of the global health policy documents of the European Commission and five EU member states (France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Denmark). The analysis is informed by a two-layered typology, distinguishing global health from international health and four ‘global health frames,’ namely social justice, security, investment and charity.

 
Results
The findings show that the concept of ‘global health’ has not gained ground the same way within European policy documents. Consequently, there are also differences in how health is being framed. While the European Commission, Belgium, and Denmark clearly support a social justice frame, the global health strategies of the United Kingdom, Germany, and France put an additional focus on the security and investment frames.

 
Conclusion
There are different understandings of global/international health as well as different framings within relevant documents of the EU and its member states. Therefore, the existence of an ‘EU’ vision on global health is questionable. Further research is needed on how this impacts on policy implementation.
Keywords
European Union (EU); Global Health; Framing; Development Cooperation; Foreign Policy
Main Subjects
Health Policy Analysis
References
  1. Fidler DP. After the revolution: global health politics in a time of economic crisis and threatening future trends. Global Health Governance. 2009;2(2).
  2. Feldbaum H, Lee K, Michaud J. Global health and foreign policy. Epidemiol Rev. 2010;32(1):82-92. doi:10.1093/epirev/mxq006
  3. Rollet V, Chang P. Is the European Union a Global Health Actor ? An Analysis of its Capacities , Involvement and Challenges. Eur Foreign Aff Rev. 2013;18(3):309-328.
  4. European Commission. Communication from the Commission to the council and the European Parliament: Health and Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries. Published 2002.
  5. European Commission. White Paper, Together for Health: A Strategic Approach for the EU 2008-2013. Published 2007.
  6. European Commission. Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: The EU Role in Global Health. Published 2010.
  7. Council of the European Union. Council conclusions on the EU role in Global Health. Published 2010.
  8. Bretherton C. Development Policy. In: Bretherton C, Mannin M, eds. The Europeanization of European Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan; 2013.
  9. Orbie J. The EU’s role in development: a full-fledged development actor or eclipsed by superpower temptations. In: Gänzle S, Grimm S, Makhan D, eds. The European Union: Enlightened Superpower in the Making. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; 2012:17-36.
  10. Verloo M. mainstreaming gender equality in Europe. Greek Rev Soc Res. 2005;117:11-34.
  11. Benford RD, Snow DA. Framing Processes and Social Movements : An Overview and Assessment. Annu Rev Sociol. 2000;26:611-639.
  12. Chong D, Druckman JN. Framing Theory. Annu Rev Polit Sci. 2007;10(1):103-126.
  13. Lombardo E, Meier P. Gender Mainstreaming in the EU. Incorporating a feminist reading? Eur J Womens Stud. 2006;13(2):151-166. doi:10.1177/1350506806062753
  14. Labonté R, Gagnon ML. Framing health and foreign policy: lessons for global health diplomacy. Global Health. 2010;6(14):1-19.
  15. Koon AD, Hawkins B, Mayhew SH. Framing and the health policy process: A scoping review. Health Policy Plan. 2016;31(6):801-816. doi:10.1093/heapol/czv128
  16. Shiffman J. A social explanation for the rise and fall of global health issues. Bull World Health Organ. 2009;87(8):608-613.
  17. McInnes C, Kamradt-Scott A, Lee K, et al. Framing global health: The governance challenge. Glob Public Health. 2012;7(S2):S83-S94.
  18. Amaya AB, Rollet V, Kingah S. What’s in a word? The framing of health at the regional level: ASEAN, EU, SADC and UNASUR. Glob Soc Policy. 2015;15(3):229-260.     doi:10.1177/1468018115599816
  19. Smith KE. The politics of ideas: The complex interplay of health inequalities research and policy. Sci Public Policy. 2014;41(5):561-574.
  20. Aluttis C, Krafft T, Brand H. Global health in the European Union - a review from an agenda-setting perspective. Glob Health Action. 2014;7(SUPP.1):1-6. doi:10.3402/gha.v7.23610
  21. Emmerling T, Heydemann J. The EU as an Actor in Global Health Diplomacy. In: Global Health Diplomacy. Springer; 2013:223-241.
  22. Van Schaik L. The EU’s Performance in the World Health Organization: Internal Cramps after the “Lisbon cure.” J Eur Integr. 2011;33(6):699-713.
  23. Battams S, Van de Pas R, Van Schaik L. The EU ’ s role in global health and the WHO reform; between health and foreign policy. http://www.globalhealtheurope.org/images/stories/120229_paper_EU_WHO_Reform_Final3.pdf. Published 2012.
  24. Emmerling T, Kickbusch I, Told M. The European Union as a Global Health Actor. World Scientific; 2016.
  25. Gagnon ML, Labonté R. Understanding how and why health is integrated into foreign policy-a case study of health is global, a UK Government strategy 2008–2013. Glob Health. 2013;9(1):24. doi:10.1186/1744-8603-9-24
  26. Aluttis C, Krafft T, Clemens T. Global health and domestic policy – What motivated the development of the German Global Health Strategy? Glob Public Health. 2017;12(9):1156-1168. doi:10.1080/17441692.2015.1094706
  27. Friedrichs J, Kratochwil F. On Acting and knowing: how pragmatism can advance international relations research and methodology. Int Organ. 2009;63(4):701.
  28. 28.     Schwartz-Shea P, Yanow D. Interpretive Research Design. New York: Routledge; 2012.
  29. Carbone M. The European Union and International Development: The Politics of Foreign Aid. New York: Routledge; 2007.
  30. Hoebink P, Stokke O. Perspectives on European Development Cooperation. Policy and Performance of Individual Donor Countries and the EU. New York: Routledge; 2005.
  31. Bozorgmehr K, Bruchhausen W, Hein W, et al. The global health concept of the German government: Strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. Glob Health Action. 2014;7:10.3402/gha.v7.23445. doi:10.3402/gha.v7.23445
  32. Bozorgmehr K. Rethinking the “global” in global health: a dialectic approach. Global Health. 2010;6:19. doi:10.1186/1744-8603-6-19
  33. Koplan JP, Bond TC, Merson MH, et al. Towards a common definition of global health. Lancet. 2009;373(9679):1993-1995. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60332-9
  34. Kickbusch I. Global health diplomacy: how foreign policy can influence health. BMJ. 2011;342(d3):154.
  35. Stuckler D, McKee M. Five metaphors about global health policy. Lancet. 2008;372(9633):95-97. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61013-2
  36. Lencucha R. Cosmopolitanism and foreign policy for health: ethics for and beyond the state. BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2013;13(1):29.
  37. Rushton S. Global Health Security: Security for Whom? Security from What? Polit Stud. 2011;59(4):779-796.
  38. Primarolo D, Malloch-Brown M, Lewis I. Health is global: a UK Government strategy for 2008-13. Lancet. 2009;373(9662):443-445.
  39. The Federal Government of Germany. Shaping Global Health, Taking Joint Action, Embracing Responsibility - The Federal Government’s Strategy Paper. https://health.bmz.de/what_we_do/Sector-strategies/shaping-global-health/Globale_Gesundheitspolitik_engl.pdf.  Published 2013.
  40. Ministère des Affaires Etrangères et de Développement International. France’s strategy for international health cooperation. Published 2012.
  41. DFID. Health Position Paper: Delivering Health Results. Published 2013.
  42. HM Government. Health is Global - A UK Government Strategy 2008-13. http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_088753.pdf. Published 2008.
  43. Belgian Directorate General for Development and Be-cause Health Platform. Policy Note: The Right to health and healthcare. Published 2008.
  44. German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Sector Strategy: German Development Policy in the Health Sector. Published 2009.
  45. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Danida. The Promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights - Strategy for Denmark’s Support. Published 2006.
  46. HM Government. Health is Global: An outcomes framework for global health 2011-2015. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/67578/health-is-global.pdf. Published 2011.
  47. Ministère des Affaires Etrangères et de Développement International. La stratégie de la France en santé mondiale. Published 2017.
  48. Battams S, Van Schaik L. The European Union as a global health actor: A critical view. In: Emmerling T, Kickbusch I, Told M, eds. The European Union as a Global Health Actor. World Scientific; 2016:329-354.
Statistics
Article View: 3,455
PDF Download: 1,086