Globalization and Health最新文献

{"title":"Sodium content of Packaged foods in Uruguay by country of origin: regulatory challenges and trade considerations.","authors":"Virginia Natero, Florencia Alcaire, Anne-Marie Thow, Gastón Ares","doi":"10.1186/s12992-026-01186-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12992-026-01186-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>BACKGROUND: Excessive sodium intake is a major public health concern. Many countries have implemented sodium reduction programs, including voluntary and mandatory reformulation strategies. However, these measures may have significant trade implications, particularly for countries reliant on food imports. This study examines the potential trade impact of sodium reduction policies in Uruguay, a small open economy in South America. For this purpose, the following objectives were pursued: i) assess the sodium content of national and imported food products available in the Uruguayan market, and ii) to compare sodium content with regional sodium reduction benchmarks for both national and imported products. RESULTS: 53.6% of the 4719 analysed products were imported from 40 countries, with Argentina and Brazil accounting for the largest shares. While no consistent differences in sodium content were found between national and imported products, adopting the targets defined by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) as mandatory limits would render 56.6% of imported products non-compliant. In 32 of the 62 subcategories, more than half of the imported products exceeded the PAHO targets, and in four subcategories, none of the imported products met the target. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that mandatory sodium reduction policies would affect national and imported products similarly and are unlikely to constitute discriminatory trade measures. Establishing sodium thresholds tailored to Uruguay’s market, such as category-specific medians, could achieve gradual, feasible reductions while mitigating trade impacts.</p>","PeriodicalId":12747,"journal":{"name":"Globalization and Health","volume":" ","pages":"21"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12892543/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145989120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Globalization and health in an emerging new world order.","authors":"Ronald Labonté, Deborah Gleeson, Taufique Joarder, Lauren Paremoer, Katerini Storeng, Remco van de Pas","doi":"10.1186/s12992-025-01164-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12992-025-01164-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12747,"journal":{"name":"Globalization and Health","volume":"22 1","pages":"4"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12777293/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145917566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Country governance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance: observations on global progress and aid programme effectiveness using data from the Tracking AMR Country Self-Assessment Survey (TrACSS).","authors":"Archie Drake, Isabel Sassoon, Jennifer Armitage, Syed Abbas, Rebecca Maudling, Ankur Gupta-Wright, Alan Serrano, Anila Shafa, Tim Shorten","doi":"10.1186/s12992-025-01179-4","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12992-025-01179-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>AMR is an important global public health challenge, but there is a lack of good data on response progress. This study addresses country governance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance, considering changes in responses to the Tracking Antimicrobial Resistance Country Self-Assessment Survey (TrACSS) between 2019 and 2024. Its first objective is to describe progress under the global action agenda on AMR. Its second objective is to assess the effectiveness of a major development aid intervention to encourage action against AMR, the United Kingdom (UK)-funded Fleming Fund (FF). The study applies a pragmatic approach to analysis, involving descriptive exploration and difference-in-differences methodology.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Governance of AMR surveillance in low- and middle-income countries generally strengthened over the five years to 2024, converging with high-income countries (HIC). South-East Asian countries reported relatively strong gains, a striking exception to limited global progress. Globally, over fifteen indicators, clear progress was only reported in four: two on strengthening underlying AMR surveillance systems, in both human health (HH) and animal health (AH); and two on regulatory frameworks in AH. FF-supported countries reported strengthening HH surveillance systems more than comparable countries, even accounting for income-group differences. The standardised change score for the 'national surveillance system for AMR in humans' was 0.11 higher in FF-supported than in other Official Development Assistance (ODA)-eligible countries (95% confidence level, p = 0.046). FF-supported countries also reported greater progress on other topics, such as use of surveillance data for decision-making in AH. FF-supported countries were approximately a quarter (25%) more likely to respond 'yes' on this topic. Additional reflections on the strengths and weaknesses of TrACSS data are discussed in detail.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our study adds empirical observations about country governance systems as they relate to AMR surveillance efforts. The idea of progressive global momentum, with South-East Asia playing a key role, disrupts established perceptions of European leadership and obstacles to change. From an aid effectiveness perspective, this study indicates that FF strengthened country HH and AH surveillance systems. It also points to institutional changes in how data are used in administrative decision-making processes and, potentially, in the translation of evidence into policy, programmes and regulation.</p><p><strong>Clinical trial number: </strong>Not applicable.</p>","PeriodicalId":12747,"journal":{"name":"Globalization and Health","volume":" ","pages":"8"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12822036/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145917594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How has the global food governance system evolved, and what challenges does it currently pose for food systems transformation? A narrative review and synthesis of the literature.","authors":"Scott Slater, Mark Lawrence, Benjamin Wood, Nicholas Nisbett, Phillip Baker","doi":"10.1186/s12992-025-01172-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12992-025-01172-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Transformative change in the global food governance (GFG) system is essential to address the interlinked crises of non-communicable diseases, social inequities, and environmental degradation that collectively undermine global health and sustainable development. However, this transformation agenda raises important questions regarding how powerful actors and interests, entrenched institutions and institutional legacies, and dominant ideologies and belief systems may resist or enable such change.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this paper, we adopt a narrative review and synthesis method, drawing on multidisciplinary and grey literature, to explore these questions. We investigate the evolution of the GFG system through historical trajectories and institutional legacies and examine its current challenges through the lens of food systems transformation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Four interlinked key findings emerged. First, GFG has evolved from a predominantly multilateral system led by intergovernmental organisations and their member nation-states to a more decentralised multistakeholder system involving a diverse array of non-state actors and interests. Second, food systems and GFG have been constrained ideologically by neoliberal policy positions, exemplified by the narratives pushed by intergovernmental organisations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization. They have also been constrained financially by rich country governments and philanthropic donors, compelling key institutions to seek external funding and partnership opportunities merely to fulfill their basic mandates. Third, by privileging multistakeholder governance and public-private partnerships, the world's largest corporations and business interest groups have reshaped power relations in global policy agendas, including those established at multilateral 'world food summits,' in ways that sideline public health imperatives. Fourth, recurrent global food crises reflect deep structural and power asymmetry issues that have historically privileged certain nation-states and, increasingly, private sector actors, thereby perpetuating inequities that exacerbate global health vulnerabilities.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The interconnected and complex challenges identified in this review - rooted in power asymmetry and institutional favouritism in GFG - pose significant barriers to transforming food systems in ways that safeguard public health, environmental sustainability, and social justice. Overcoming these obstacles is pivotal not only for achieving global climate and sustainable development goals, but also for rebalancing power in GFG so that policies better align with the needs of all people and the planet.</p>","PeriodicalId":12747,"journal":{"name":"Globalization and Health","volume":" ","pages":"17"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12859912/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145911236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The successful scaling-up of antiretroviral therapy globally has many lessons for advancing universal health coverage: progress at risk.","authors":"Yibeltal Assefa, Gorik Ooms, Ryuichi Komatsu, Solomon Woldeyohannes, Charles F Gilks","doi":"10.1186/s12992-025-01181-w","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12992-025-01181-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>BACKGROUND: The expansion of antiretroviral therapy (ART) over the past twenty years is one of the most significant achievements in public health. It has transformed HIV from a life-threatening to a chronically manageable condition. This study aims to identify the successes and challenges in scaling up ART over the past two decades and derive key lessons to inform the universal health coverage (UHC) agenda. METHODS: The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Health Observatory database was used to extract data on ART coverage. We analysed ART coverage data for all countries in the six WHO Regions (Africa, the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Western Pacific) of the world from 2000 to 2023. We also examined the association between ART coverage and UHC for reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health services in the African region. A trend analysis of HIV funding from 2000 to 2023 was also conducted using the data from the National AIDS Spending Assessment. A literature review was conducted to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder the expansion of ART, along with key insights for the UHC agenda. RESULTS: ART coverage has increased significantly across all regions, from 2% in 2000 to 77% in 2023. Africa experienced the most remarkable growth, rising from 0% in 2000 to 82% in 2023. ART coverage positively correlates with improvements in reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health services. However, there are notable disparities in ART coverage across regions, with Africa leading but with significant variation between countries, while the Eastern Mediterranean Region lags. A slowdown in ART coverage growth has been observed since 2020, reflecting challenges in sustaining progress as countries near universal coverage and struggle to reach marginalized or criminalized populations with limited access to healthcare. Additionally, global HIV funding, which peaked in 2017, has plateaued and declined by 2023. The successful scaling up of ART relies on strong political leadership, health system strengthening, community engagement, multi-sectoral actions, and global health initiatives. Key lessons for UHC include maintaining political commitment, strengthening health systems, reducing financial barriers, engaging communities and other sectors, and ensuring long-term financial sustainability. CONCLUSIONS: The global scale-up of ART has been a major public health success, though disparities remain, and the rate of growth of ART coverage has slowed since 2020 due to financial instability, shifting global health priorities, and the COVID-19 pandemic. These gains are thus now at risk. Moving forward, strong political leadership, resilient health systems, community engagement, multi-sectoral collaboration, and sustainable financing are essential for maintaining and expanding ART coverage. These lessons are critical for advancing the UHC agenda.</p>","PeriodicalId":12747,"journal":{"name":"Globalization and Health","volume":" ","pages":"16"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12860156/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145855363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tool for assessing food industry commitments and practices to address the double burden of malnutrition: a Delphi study.","authors":"Carmen Klinger, Elochukwu C Okanmelu, Peter Delobelle, Melissa A Theurich, Daniela Rincón Camargo, Kurt Gedrich, Nicole Holliday, Eva A Rehfuess, Olufunke Alaba, Zandile Mchiza, Estelle V Lambert, Stefanie Vandevijvere, Lana Vanderlee, Gary Sacks, Peter von Philipsborn","doi":"10.1186/s12992-025-01175-8","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12992-025-01175-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Many low- and middle-income countries face a double burden of malnutrition, i.e., a co-occurrence of undernutrition with overweight, obesity, or other diet-related noncommunicable diseases. In an increasingly connected global food system, multinational and domestic food industry actors - through their commercial practices and corporate political activity - both contribute to the double burden of malnutrition and hold potential to address it. Systematic monitoring of relevant industry commitments and practices may help to hold industry accountable and foster constructive engagement. The Business Impact Assessment - Obesity and population-level nutrition (BIA-Obesity) tool has been developed to assess and benchmark food companies' commitments and practices related to obesity and support for healthy diets at a national level.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>To enable the application of BIA-Obesity for countries facing a double burden of malnutrition, this study aimed to identify and select relevant best practice indicators for assessing food company commitments and practices regarding the double burden of malnutrition, with a focus on indicators not currently captured by the BIA-Obesity tool. A three-round Delphi study was conducted between April and October 2024, involving an international panel of experts.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>From 52 invited experts, 30 contributed to our expert panel (response rate 58%). Based on a systematic review, 16 best practice indicators addressing the double burden of malnutrition were proposed. Consensus (i.e., group agreement of 75% or higher) for inclusion was reached for 8 indicators covering the production, distribution and marketing of (i) breastmilk substitutes and (ii) complementary foods, (iii) breastfeeding support and (iv) parental leave for employees, (v) food fortification, (vi) use of traditional foods, (vii) use of discounts and donations, and (viii) healthy diets at work. One additional indicator on corporate strategy was included as an overarching indicator.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Food industry action may complement other efforts to address the double burden of malnutrition, such as public policies and investments. Tools like the extended BIA-Obesity framework can be used for a systematic monitoring of relevant industry commitments and practices and may help to disseminate and establish favourable industry practices as part of broader efforts to address the double burden of malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries.</p><p><strong>Clinical trial number: </strong>Not applicable.</p>","PeriodicalId":12747,"journal":{"name":"Globalization and Health","volume":" ","pages":"14"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-12-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12849613/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145833780","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigating the determinants of under-five child mortality in Türkiye: the role of inequality in access to healthcare.","authors":"Selman Kizilkaya, Burhan Durgun, Funda Durgun","doi":"10.1186/s12992-025-01182-9","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12992-025-01182-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>BACKGROUND: Under-five mortality remains a key indicator of healthcare effectiveness, yet disparities persist due to inequitable health investments, and human capital development. AIM: This study investigates the long-run determinants of under-five mortality in Türkiye by incorporating health expenditures, human capital, and health equality into a robust econometric framework. A key focus is to examine the extent to which health equality modulates the impact of health expenditures on child mortality and whether an inequitable distribution of healthcare services undermines the mortality-reducing effects of financial investments. METHOD: This study employs time-series econometric techniques to analyze secondary data from 1975 to 2022. Stationarity is tested using the ADF and KPSS tests, while the Bayer-Hanck cointegration test assesses long-run equilibrium. The FMOLS method estimates the long-term impact of key variables on under-five mortality, addressing autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity concerns. RESULTS: The results indicate that increased health expenditures and greater human capital reduce under-five mortality, and this pattern remains consistent across both model specifications. When health equality is included in the analysis, its influence emerges as the strongest factor in lowering mortality. However, the interaction between health expenditures and health equality shows that the mortality-reducing effect of health expenditures weakens when resources are distributed unfairly. These findings highlight that the effectiveness of financial investments depends heavily on the degree of equity within the health system. CONCLUSION: This study confirms that health expenditure, human capital development, and equitable resource distribution are key to reducing under-five mortality. However, the results also show that when health expenditures are allocated inequitably, their impact becomes weaker, underscoring the critical role of equality. Policies must therefore prioritize fairness in the distribution of health resources, while future research should continue to examine how health expenditures and human capital can be optimized to improve accessibility and efficiency.</p>","PeriodicalId":12747,"journal":{"name":"Globalization and Health","volume":" ","pages":"13"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12849055/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145827491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The discriminatory politics of knowledge production.","authors":"Fareeda Abo-Rass, Jesse B Bump","doi":"10.1186/s12992-025-01173-w","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12992-025-01173-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Academic publishing is one of several forces that shape what is recognized as global health knowledge. The peer review process is meant to ensure rigor and quality, yet it can reproduce political and structural inequalities, especially when research challenges dominant narratives. For researchers from marginalized and colonized communities, these dynamics determine whether their language, identity, and lived realities are permitted in scholarly spaces. When political, historical, and socio-legal context is minimized or replaced with state-sanctioned labels, the result is not neutrality but the silencing of essential truths that directly shape health and mental health. This Comment examines how editorial and peer review practices operate as gatekeeping mechanisms that privilege dominant geopolitical narratives and marginalize Indigenous and decolonial perspectives. Drawing on a recent case where a peer-reviewed article, recommended for publication, faced subsequent editorial demands to replace politically accurate terminology referring to Palestinians, we show how language policing functions as epistemic control. These are not isolated incidents: global publishing norms pressure scholars toward state-sanctioned labels and \"neutral\" frames, sidelining colonial and political determinants of health. In global health, that pressure produces an evidence base that overlooks the sociopolitical conditions; occupation, systemic violence, legal segregation, displacement, that shape exposure, access, care pathways, and outcomes, including mental health. It produces an appearance of neutrality that is methodologically incomplete and ethically fragile, with downstream consequences for research agendas, funding priorities, program design, and accountability. Confronting the politics of knowledge production in global health requires structural change, not just diversity statements. Safeguarding researchers' right to represent their communities in their own terms and embedding sociopolitical realities into analysis are essential. Without these changes, global health will continue to reproduce the inequalities it seeks to reduce, failing to generate knowledge that is genuinely global, representative, and just.</p>","PeriodicalId":12747,"journal":{"name":"Globalization and Health","volume":"21 1","pages":"72"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12723847/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145819008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Food industry degrowth as a public health strategy: the case of ultra processed baked goods.","authors":"Norah Campbell, Sarah Browne, Marius Claudy, Kathryn Reilly, Francis M Finucane","doi":"10.1186/s12992-025-01178-5","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12992-025-01178-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Evidence associates ultra-processed food and beverage (UPF) diets to diverse non-communicable diseases, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mental health disorders. Efforts to reformulate by reducing salt, sugar and unhealthy fats in such foods, have not changed the fact that UPFs are an increasing proportion of population diets. The UPF industry is rooted in growth – a fundamental logic at the heart of publicly traded and for-profit private corporations. Our longitudinal analysis of supermarket trade journals from the US and UK spanning 30 years finds that growth in this sector is not demand-led, but industry driven. Our analysis uncovers four dynamics of this growth paradigm, which we call combatition., swotification, the fashion spiral, and demand-pumping. Our findings show that, while public health policies result in individual products becoming more ‘healthy’, these benefits are likely to dwarfed by the aggregate (overall) growth of the UPF category itself. We propose a powerful counter paradigm: de-growth. While having gained recognition in ecological economics, we demonstrate its potential for public health, especially its concepts of decoupling and overproduction. While many public health interventions exist within a growth paradigm, a degrowth perspective proposes that the UPF industry cannot innovate its way out of health harms, and that the production of the entire category must decrease.</p>","PeriodicalId":12747,"journal":{"name":"Globalization and Health","volume":" ","pages":"10"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12837068/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145809516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How are sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) addressed in UN conventions, treaty bodies, and decisions: a scoping review.","authors":"Mathieu Seppey, Yulia Bodryzlova, Muriel Mac-Seing, Gabriel Girard, Christina Zarowsky","doi":"10.1186/s12992-025-01180-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12992-025-01180-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>BACKGROUND: Sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sexual characteristics (SOGIESC) concepts are not mentioned in human rights treaties but are increasingly present in the activity of UN treaty bodies, resulting for instance in decisions, general comments and recommendations, concluding observations. Scholars have developed an increasing interest for this inclusion of SOGIESC in international law, more specifically human rights. However, the literature and case work of treaty bodies are not uniform but consist of a diversity of issues and cases under different conventions. A clearer understanding of the legal context could improve human rights advocates’ engagement and facilitate the inclusion of SOGIESC concepts in international human rights law. METHODS: This scoping review aims to better understand how treaty bodies address diverse SOGIESC issues, while illustrating information gaps and contemporary debates through academic literature. A search of two UN treaty bodies’ databases resulted in the inclusion of 58 documents related to treaty bodies’ activity and a search of six academic literature databases resulted in the inclusion of 57 documents that were thematically analysed. Following these key emerging themes, gaps are identified through a “Gender and Sexual Diversity Health and Wellbeing Critical Analysis”. RESULTS: While SOGIESC diversity is not mentioned within any treaty, it is nonetheless present through an evolutive interpretation of human rights treaties by treaty bodies. This evolutive interpretation can be represented by a chronology of legal events and key emerging and maturing themes such as privacy, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, family life, health, education, sexism and stereotypes, non-refoulement and torture, bodily integrity and the best interest of the child. DISCUSSION: Various disparities based on SOGIESC are now recognised through these key issues. However cis-heteronormativity is seldomly mentioned as a root cause, leaving these disparities “unexplained” and unchanged. SOGIESC concepts are also understood separately from other intersectionalities. Key UN treaty bodies still have not made the connection with SOGIESC, including for example the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. An important gap appears in academic literature around the mobilisation and applicability of human rights treaties by/for diverse SOGIESC individuals and communities. Treaty bodies can be further mobilised through their general comments or recommendations, concluding observations, and decisions to provide further authoritative norms protecting SOGIESC rights. Specific attention should address substantiating claims properly, with improved investigating and charging practices and with stronger partnerships with SOGIESC diverse communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":12747,"journal":{"name":"Globalization and Health","volume":" ","pages":"11"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12836782/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145809757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}