DATE / TIME:

2013•10•03    10:00 - 11:00

Location:

Kuala Lumpur

“Today, in an interconnected world, bacteria and viruses travel almost as fast as e-mail and financial flow…
With globalization, a single microbial sea washes all of humankind” – Gro Harlem Brundtland

The temporal, spatial, and cognitive dimensions of globalization have significant implications for public health. Globalization erodes national boundaries in complex ways. The transnational spread of infectious diseases, and global epidemics of non-communicable diseases are both exacerbated by the globalization of the world economy; cross-border supply of goods and services; the transcontinental networks of multinational corporations whose products like tobacco may have serious health implications, especially in developing countries; migration; global travel; innovations in biotechnology; climate change and other environmental factors. These emerging trends involve new actors whose interests are often difficult to align with the goal of protection and promotion of public health. ‘Global health diplomacy’ is no longer exclusively driven by public health but by emerging trends outside the health sector.

The field of global health is now populated by “multiple actors” and influenced by “diverse interests”. The multiplicity of actors and diversity of interests in the global health arena have complicated the task of articulating effective governance and regulatory strategies in an age of globalization of public health. Global health challenges require globalized policy responses involving multiple actors – nation-states, inter-governmental organizations, private and corporate actors, and civil society. In the 21st century, there is an urgent need to reconstruct global health governance architecture by locating public health firmly on the global development agenda.