Understanding the Context of Global Health Policies

Abstract

The systemic inadequacies of models of health systems propagated by the advocates of global health policies (GHPs) have fragmented health service systems, particularly in middle- and lower-income countries. GHPs are underpinned by economic interests and the need for control by the global elite, irrespective of people’s health needs. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the advocates of GHPs, leading to calls for a movement for “decolonisation” of global health. Much of this narrative on the “decolonisation” of GHPs critiques its northern knowledge base, and the power derived from it at individual, institutional and national levels. This, it argues, has led to an unequal exchange of knowledge, making it impossible to end decades of oppressive hegemony and to prevent inappropriate decision-making on GHPs. Despite these legitimate concerns, little in the literature on the decolonisation of GHPs extends beyond epistemological critiques. This article offers a radically different perspective. It is based on an understanding of the role of transnational capital in extracting wealth from the economies of low- and middle-income countries resulting in influencing and shaping public health policy and practice, including interactions between the environment and health. It mobilises historical evidence of distorted priorities underpinning GHPs and the damaging consequences for health services throughout the world.

Catalysing sustainable development through regional food system governance: Strengthening the translation of regional food system policy guidance to national level in the Pacific

“…Improving national and regional food sovereignty will reduce vulnerabilities to climate change, economic stresses and pandemics. Strengthening the regional–national dialogue will potentially facilitate food sovereignty and strengthen de‐colonisation efforts through increased ownership of the regional food system agenda (James et al, 2021; Sen et al, 2022; Wesley‐Smith, 2007), and it will potentially help the paradigm change (Thow et al, 2022).…”

The Social Consequences of the Global Expansion of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…It is important today to employ the methods of political economy and economic sociology to analyze the dynamics and social consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic; to identify the reasons for the poor performance of capitalist countries in confronting COVID-19; to generalize and popularize positive experiences in the fight against COVID-19; and to develop recommendations for the prevention and treatment of this grave and insidious disease. This article aims to contribute to the discourse in global political economy and economic sociology on this topical issue, which now occupies an important place in many socio-economic journals and other publications (Alexiou 2021;Lohmeyer and Taylor 2020;Lust 2021;Paulsson and Koglin 2022;Robinson 2020;Saad-Filho 2020;Sen, Qadeer, and Missoni 2022;Stevano et al 2021;Suwandi and Foster 2022;Wei and Chen 2020;etc.). In the countries of the Global North and South, the social organization of health care and the efforts to deal with the COVID-19 problem have been the subjects of much academic work by political economists and economic sociologists.…”

“…In response, the peoples of the Third World are advocating the "decolonization" of global health as part of a movement against the new global health policy. In reality, this latter policy is an old refrain intended to reincarnate colonialism with the prefix "neo" (Sen, Qadeer, and Missoni 2022). The main content of the "decolonization" movement is clearly articulated in The Lancet:…”