Examining the Global Health Arena: Strengths and Weaknesses of a Convention Approach to Global Health Challenges

Abstract

1-page key messages

In June 2009 the Norwegian Directorate of Health commissioned the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services with compiling and analyzing available international research material on the strengths and weaknesses of a convention approach to global health challenges. The following report is a response to this commission.

This purpose of the report is to contribute towards resolving the challenges related to poor health amongst the world’s poorest and least healthy population. As such, it represents an initiative from the Norwegian public administration towards informing national and international governmental bodies of strengths and weaknesses of a global health convention approach to structure the international work on global health.

Key messages of the report:

Increasing global interdependence makes the health of the world’s poorest and most marginalized people a pressing issue for all nations of the world. There are observable weaknesses in the current international frameworks to improve health for the world’s most marginalized people, including shortcomings in the human rights approach to health. A global health convention could provide an appropriate instrument to deal with some of the intractable problems of global health, especially: clearly define what are basic survival needs setting principles for cooperation, accountability, and allocation of resources between stakeholders structuring and coordinating the financing of global health investments granting rules for access to health services, including setting demands for national priorities with respect to the provision of health services Challenges might be to muster international support for supra-national health regulations, negotiate compromises between existing stakeholders in the global health arena, and to gain WHO’s support as a convener of the parties and as a facilitator of the adoption process.