scholarly journals Non-communicable diseases and global health governance: enhancing global processes to improve health development

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger S Magnusson
Author(s):  
Marco Zenone ◽  
Benjamin Hawkins

Suzuki et al. have identified commonalities in the policy positions adopted at a global forum by commercial sector actors and high-income countries, on the one hand, and non-governmental organizations and low- and middle-income countries, on the other, in ways that may allow commercial sector actors to block or delay evidence-based policies through the creation of political controversy. The ability of industry actors to draw on the support of the most politically and economically powerful countries for their favoured policy agenda is an important contribution to understanding the dynamics of global health governance in the area of non-communicable diseases and beyond. Here we assess the relevance of this paper for the field of corporate actors’ research and the potential avenues this opens up for further study. More specifically we emphasize the need for comparative, cross disciplinary research to examine the power of heath-harming industries and the relevance of these findings for decolonizing global health.


Author(s):  
Johanna Ralston

In recognition of the global burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), the past decade has seen three U.N. High Level Meetings on NCDs. Yet progress in terms of political or financial commitments has been very slow. At the 2018 meeting, a political declaration was approved but featured language that had been watered down in terms of commitments. In "Competing Frames of Global Health Governance: An Analysis of Stakeholder Influence on the Political Declaration on Non-communicable Diseases," Suzuki et al analyze the documents that were submitted by Member States, NGOs and the private sector during the consultation period and conclude that the private sector and several high-income countries appeared to oppose regulatory frameworks for products associated with NCDs , that wealthier countries resisted financing commitments, and that general power asymmetries affected the final document. This comment supports their findings and provides additional considerations for why the NCD response has yet to produce significant commitments.


Author(s):  
Angela Carriedo ◽  
Kathrin Lauber ◽  
Margaret M. Miller ◽  
Rob Ralston

This commentary engages with Suzuki and colleagues’ analysis about the ambiguity of multi-stakeholder discourses in the United Nations (UN) Political Declaration of the 3rd High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (HLM-NCDs), suggesting that blurring between public and private sector in this declaration reflects broader debates about multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) and public-private partnerships (PPPs) in health governance. We argue that the ambiguity between the roles and responsibilities of public and private actors involved may downplay the role (and regulation) of conflicts of interest (COI) between unhealthy commodity industries and public health. We argue that this ambiguity is not simply an artefact of the Political Declaration process, but a feature of multi-stakeholderism, which assumes that commercial actors´ interests can be aligned with the public interest. To safeguard global health governance, we recommend further empirical and conceptual research on COI and how it can be managed.


Author(s):  
Mary Robinson

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. Bringing together leading health and human rights scholars and practitioners from academia, non-governmental organizations, and the United Nations system, this volume explores: (1) the foundations of human rights as a normative framework for global health governance, (2) the mandate of the World Health Organization to pursue a human rights-based approach to health, (3) the role of inter-governmental organizations across a range of health-related human rights, (4) the influence of rights-based economic governance on public health, and (5) the focus on global health among institutions of human rights governance. Contributing chapters map the distinct human rights activities within a specific institution of global governance for health. Through the comparative institutional analysis in this volume, the contributing authors examine institutional efforts 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.


Author(s):  
Jeremy Youde

While Chapter 3 focuses primarily on the evolution of global health governance, Chapter 4 pays more attention to its contemporary manifestation as a secondary institution within international society. This chapter discusses the current state of the global health governance architecture—who the important actors are, how they operate, how they have changed over the past twenty-five years, and how they illustrate the fundamental beliefs and attitudes within the global health governance system. In particular, the chapter discusses the relative balance between state-based and non-state actors, as well as public versus private actors. This chapter highlights five key players within contemporary global health governance: states; the World Health Organization; multilateral funding agencies; public–private partnerships; and non-state and private actors


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