Global health governance after the financial crisis: making health equity matter
| Title | Global health governance after the financial crisis: making health equity matter |
| Year | 2013 |
| Author | A. Ruckert |
| DOI | 10.1080/11926422.2013.844187 |
| URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/11926422.2013.844187 |
| Journal | Canadian Foreign Policy Journal |
| Document Type | Journal Article |
| Document Availability | Abstract |
| Classification | Equity |
| Abstract | This article analyzes some of the main challenges to global health governance (GHG) arising from the financial crisis, with a specific focus on emerging resource constraints linked to budget cutbacks and the arrival of global austerity. It argues that the confluence of multiple crises (climate, environmental, financial) and the emergence of new forms of knowledge about global health have opened up a window of opportunity for incremental and progressive change in GHG that build on insights of the social determinants of health (SDH) approach. The SDH approach emphasizes the need to address health problems through preventative action aimed at improving the inequitable and unfair distribution of SDHs globally. This will require within the policy community the establishment of linkages between specific diseases and their underlying socio-economic context and root causes, within a broader project of socioeconomic transformation in the direction of global social democracy. Due to its expertise in the area of SDH, Canada is uniquely positioned to play a leadership role in reorienting GHG in line with health equity principles. |