Global Governance of Health

Abstract

"In recent decades, issues under the purview of global health have moved far beyond the physical spread of diseases. Since the early 1980s, the global architecture of governance, trade and economics has come to be informed by globalisation, and consequently national decision making and national policies are often subject to global influences. This is true in the health sector as well (1) and the advent of globalisation marks a shift in institutions and structures that govern health at a global level. The use of the term “global” instead of “international”, when discussing issues of health that go beyond national boundaries, is in itself significant. “International health” held the connotation that national concerns and policies formed the bedrock of policies about supranational issues, while “global health” appears to start from the premise that global issues largely supersede national policies, concerns and priorities."(pg 86)