Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
chapter 15
Global Health Initiatives:
caroline Khoubesserian
the expansion of global health initiatives in recent years is a significant sign of
innovation in global governance. these multi-level initiatives, such as the Global
Fund to Fight aIDS, tuberculosis, and Malaria and the Stop tb Partnership, have
emerged as an innovative type of mechanism to assist those developing countries
at the forefront of the challenge to eradicate a host of infectious diseases (see
table 15-1). no longer are bilateral aid programmes the lone or preferred solution for
health concerns in the global economic South. this resort to global health initiatives
reflects both an increased commitment to tackle health issues on a global basis and a
recognition that the conventional template of governance tools requires a redesign.
the catalysts for new thinking and types of action for the health dossier, now
considered a global public good, are the spread of the HIv/aIDS crises and the
that the structures of global health governance be ramped up in an unanticipated
fashion. traditional approaches still matter—and a number of donor governments
have refined their programmes of official development assistance (oDa) in an
attempt to be more responsive to this set of problems. However, while necessary,
this adjustment is no longer perceived to be sufficient. The resulting deficit is being
filled, at least in part, by global health initiatives, which have moved into a prominent
position in defining conceptually and tackling practically the issues on the front lines
of the health governance crisis.
this is not to say that the traditional and the innovative means of addressing
health governance are at odds with each other. on the contrary, they can often be
complementary. therefore, to understand the emergent global health governance
system better, an examination of both the rise of global health initiatives and current
oDa strategies is necessary. How these two mechanisms correspond to the health
needs of developing countries will allow a better appreciation of how responsive the
current governance system is to global health challenges.
to examine this interface, this chapter outlines the global health context, which
tends to focus on disease eradication. It describes the salient features of global health
initiatives and the rationale behind their recent expanded profile, as well as their
strengths and weaknesses as innovative means to address global health problems.
these campaigns will be compared with the oDa strategies of the United Kingdom,
