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Global Health Governance

Institutions, Frameworks, and Interventions

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Handbook of Global Health

Abstract

The evolution of international health cooperation through the nineteenth-century International Sanitary Conferences followed the trajectories of the classic Westphalian international system built on the architecture of primacy of nation-states in international relations. Applied to public health diplomacy, membership of multilateral health organizations like the World Health Organization is open only to states, and only state actors can become parties to multilateral health treaties, conventions and regulations negotiated under the auspices of those organizations. In an age of globalization of public health, global health governance has emerged as a key concept that captures the dynamic roles, interests, and diverse activities of multiple (states and nonstate) actors in global health. In an inter-dependent world, public health raises globalized challenges that require innovative governance approaches in the interactions of nation-states and nonstate actors. The transition from international to global health governance requires aligning the competing values, interests, and motivations of multiple actors towards a coherent cooperative governance framework that effectively addresses emerging and re-emerging global health challenges.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Obijiofor Aginam

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  1. Obijiofor Aginam
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of International and Global Health Programme, Geneva, Switzerland

    Ilona Kickbusch

  2. Charité Foundation, Berlin, Germany

    Detlev Ganten

  3. World Health Organization, Regional Office, Brazzaville, Congo, Demographic Republic (Zaire)

    Matshidiso Moeti

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Aginam, O. (2021). Global Health Governance. In: Kickbusch, I., Ganten, D., Moeti, M. (eds) Handbook of Global Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45009-0_112

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