International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Rowing Against the Tide Is How You Drown: A Response to Recent Commentaries

Document Type : Correspondence

Authors
1 Department of Global Population Health, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2 The George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi, India
Keywords

The five commentaries on our two-part analysis of the healthy societies literature agree with our diagnosis and largely with one another. Liwanag and Howard name the problem socio-political inertia; Khalil calls for a shift from technical fixes to a justice-oriented paradigm; Fisher relocates the foundations of a healthy society to the community arena and the public-interest duty of the democratic state; Di Ruggiero shows that the field measures problems rather than the actions and governance that would address them.1-4 ...(Read more...)

1.     Liwanag HJ, Howard N. Confronting “socio-political inertia” on the long and winding road to “healthy societies”: Comment on “How to build healthy societies: a thematic analysis of relevant conceptual frameworks.” Int J Health Policy Manag. 2025;14:9150. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.9150
2.     Khalil H. Rethinking healthy societies: a critical commentary on policy levers and enablers: Comment on “How to build healthy societies: a thematic analysis of relevant conceptual frameworks.” Int J Health Policy Manag. 2025;14:9059. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.9059
3.     Fisher M. Critical reflections on public health, policy and social change toward healthy societies: Comment on “How to build healthy societies: a thematic analysis of relevant conceptual frameworks.” Int J Health Policy Manag. 2025;14:9135. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.9135
4.     Di Ruggiero E. What is not conceptualized is not measured: towards healthier societies: Comment on “How to build healthy societies: a thematic analysis of relevant conceptual frameworks.” Int J Health Policy Manag. 2026;15:9184. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.9184
5.     Repullo-Labrador JR. Rowing against the tide: building healthier societies is difficult: Comment on “How to build healthy societies: a thematic analysis of relevant conceptual frameworks.” Int J Health Policy Manag. 2025;14:9089. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.9089
6.     Nambiar D, Bestman A, Srivastava S, Marten R, Yangchen S, Buse K. How to build healthy societies: a thematic analysis of relevant conceptual frameworks. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2023;12:7451. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.2023.7451
7.     Buse K, Bestman A, Srivastava S, Marten R, Yangchen S, Nambiar D. What are healthy societies? A thematic analysis of relevant conceptual frameworks. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2023;12:7450. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.2023.7450
8.     Global Health 50/50. Regaining (Some) Ground: The Global Health 50/50 Report 2026. Cambridge, UK: Global Health 50/50; 2026. doi:10.56649/IHQR2859
9.     Hawkes S, Sy EA, Barker G, et al. Achieving gender justice for global health equity: the Lancet Commission on gender and global health. Lancet. 2025;405(10487):1373-1438. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(25)00488-X

Articles in Press, Corrected Proof
Available Online from 11 October 2026

  • Received Date 24 September 2026
  • Accepted Date 26 September 2026
  • First Published Date 11 October 2026
  • Published Date 11 October 2026