Global Health Diplomacy

Abstract

Health issues have received unprecedented attention in global policy negotiations in recent decades. Ongoing global health challenges, the pressing need to address global health disparities, and recent calls for collaboration as part of the sustainable development goals process have contributed to increasing consideration of the intersection among global health, foreign policy, and diplomacy. These developments have resulted in ‘global health diplomacy’. This chapter examines the links between health and foreign policy and how global health diplomacy is employed to influence global politics. It further investigates some of the instruments used in global health diplomacy, including recommendations/resolutions, international agreements, and regulations. How and why health issues reach the political agendas of foreign ministries are also examined. The chapter then discusses how to evaluate and improve global health diplomacy processes and raises research questions for advancing the academic study of global health diplomacy and why it remains important.