In: Nursing
Explain why global health concerns have become a significant issue in foreign policy and diplomacy. must be 5 paragraph. 1page
Pandemics, emerging diseases and bioterrorism are readily
understood as direct threats to national and global security. But
health issues are also important in other core functions of foreign
policy, such as pursuing economic growth, fostering development,
and supporting human rights and human dignity. Health is today a
growing concern in foreign policy.Public health has often been
placed in a reactive role in dealing with the consequences of
policies it had no influence in shaping.
When foreign policy-makers do pay attention to public health, it
has tended to be in times of crisis.The interdependence that
globalization brings results in a common vulnerability that
requires a collective response. This has transformed the foreign
policy–health linkage.
*The foreign policy:-
It accounts for public health concerns is the mission of the
Foreign Policy and Global Health (FPGH) initiative launched by the
foreign ministers of Brazil, France, Indonesia, Norway, Senegal,
South Africa and Thailand. This initiative seeks to promote the use
of a health lens in formulating foreign policy to work together
towards common goals.
The FPGH issued the Oslo Declaration and Agenda for Action in March
2007.1 Pursuing this agenda, FPGH held a meeting with foreign
ministers in New York during last year’s UN General Assembly and
last month, WHO and FPGH held a symposium in Geneva to further
analyse this health-foreign policy nexus. At this symposium, both
health and foreign policy-makers reviewed how diplomacy is changing
and the opportunities and challenges that these changes present for
foreign policy and global health.2 Participants examined ways to
increase compliance of health commitments made in international
fora, how the better integration of health issues in foreign policy
priorities can move these forward, and how foreign policy can
accelerate consensus-building in high-level health
negotiations.
A key event :-
A key event in this new era of global health diplomacy was the recent World Health Assembly resolution on public health and intellectual property (WHA 61.21) demonstrating what can be achieved when public health experts and diplomats work together. The successful outcome of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property was due to the flexibility Member States demonstrated in negotiating the global strategy and plan of action. The resolution means a more proactive approach can be taken in the quest for innovation of, and equitable access to, life-saving and health-promoting interventions.
The current interest in global health as a foreign policy concern offers a window of opportunity. We need to embed the use of the health lens in foreign policy while we have this chance. Protecting and promoting public health as part of the foreign policy agenda makes sense. However, this changing relationship between foreign policy and health requires careful management for mutual benefit.