Global Health Justice And Governance

"Global Health Justice and Governance builds on my previous book, Health and Social Justice, which offered an alternative model, health capability paradigm (HCP), for analysis of health disparities, addressing complex issues at the intersection of economics, ethics, and politics in health"--Page x.

In a world beset by serious and unconscionable health disparities, by dangerous contagions that can circle our globalized planet in hours, and by a bewildering confusion of health actors and systems, humankind needs a new vision, a new architecture, new coordination among renewed systems to ensure central health capabilities for all. Global Health Justice and Governance lays out the critical problems facing the world today and offers a new theory of justice and governance as a way to resolve these seemingly intractable issues. A fundamental responsibility of society is to ensure human flourishing. The central role that health plays in flourishing places a unique claim on our public institutions and resources, to ensure central health capabilities to reduce premature death and avoid preventable morbidities. Faced with staggering inequalities, imperiling epidemics, and inadequate systems, the world desperately needs a new global health architecture. Global Health Justice and Governance lays out this vision.

Institutions matter for the advancement of human rights in global health. Given the dramatic development of human rights under international law and the parallel proliferation of global institutions for public health, there arises an imperative to understand the implementation of human rights through global health governance. This volume examines the evolving relationship between human rights, global governance, and public health, studying an expansive set of health challenges through a multi-sectoral array of global organizations. To analyze the structural determinants of rights-based governance, the organizations in this volume include those international bureaucracies that implement human rights in ways that influence public health in a globalizing world. This volume brings together leading health and human rights scholars and practitioners from academia, non-governmental organizations, and the United Nations system. They explore the foundations of human rights as a normative framework for global health governance, the mandate of the World Health Organization to pursue a human rights-based approach to health, the role of inter-governmental organizations across a range of health-related human rights, the influence of rights-based economic governance on public health, and the focus on global health among institutions of human rights governance. Contributing chapters each map the distinct human rights efforts within a specific institution of global governance for health. Through the comparative institutional analysis in this volume, the contributing authors examine institutional dynamics to operationalize human rights in organizational policies, programs, and practices and assess institutional factors that facilitate or inhibit human rights mainstreaming for global health advancement.

Globalization has immersed all of humanity in a single germ pool. There are no health sanctuaries in a globalizing world. In Global Health Governance, Obijiofor Aginam explores the relevance of international law in contemporary public health diplomacy. He focuses on the concept of mutual vulnerability to explore the globalization of disease, in what is paradoxically a global village and a divided world. Drawing from a wide range of disciplines, Global Health Governance offers a holistic approach to global health governance involving a multiplicity of actors: nation-states, international organizations, civil society organizations, and private actors. Aginam articulates modest proposals under the rubric of communitarian globalism, a paradigm that strives to meet the ideals of 'law of humanity.' These proposals project a humane global health order where all of humanity is inexorably tied into a global compact and where the health of one nation-state rises and falls with the health of others. International law—with its bold claims to universal protection of human rights and human dignity—is an indispensable governance tool for the reconstruction of damaged public health trust in the relations of nations and peoples.

A practical guide on how to conduct research on the impact of corporations on global health and global health governance, which draws on the theoretical and methodological insights of a range of scholarly disciplines.

This book argues that the rise of institutions and organizations dedicated to global health-global health governance-has emerged, grown, and proven itself resilient over the past generation because international society has come to understand addressing global health as part of a larger sense of moral responsibility and obligation.

In the light of scares about potential pandemics such as swine fever and avian flu, the issue of global health and its governance is of increasing concern to scholars and practitioners of medicine, public health, social work, and international politics alike. Providing a concise and informative introduction to how global health is governed, this book: Explores the various ways in which we understand global health governance Explains the "nuts and bolts" of the traditional institutions of global health governance, highlights key frameworks and treaties and their relative successes and failings Examines the actors in global health governance, their purpose, influence and impact Offers an in depth analysis of the effectiveness of global health interventions, focusing particularly on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Highlighting the wide variety of actors, issues and approaches involved, this work shows the complex nature of global health governance, forcing the reader to examine who or what really governs global health, to what outcome, and for whom.

Global Health Governance and Policy outlines the fundamentals of global health, a key element of sustainable development. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it explores the relationship between the globalization process and global health’s social, political, economic and environmental determinants. It points the attention to the actors and forces that shape global policies and actions with an impact on peoples’ health in an increasingly complex global governance context. Topics discussed include: The relationship between globalization and the determinants of health The essentials of global health measurements The evolution of public health strategies in the context of the global development agenda The actors and influencers of global health governance The role of health systems The dynamics and mechanisms of global health financing and Development Assistance for Health Career opportunities in global health governance, management and policy Looking in depth at some of the more significant links between neoliberal globalization, global policies and health, Global Health Governance and Policy: An Introduction discusses some specific health issues of global relevance such as changes in the ecosystem, epidemics and the spread of infectious diseases, the global transformation of the food system, the tobacco epidemic, human migration, macroeconomic processes and global financial crisis, trade and access to health services, drugs and vaccines, and eHealth and the global "health 4.0" challenge. Written by a team of experienced practitioners, scientists and teachers, this textbook is ideal for students of all levels and professionals in a variety of disciplines with an interest in global health.