Ilona Kickbusch

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies · Global Health Program

Over the past two decades, global health diplomacy, foreign policy for health, and global health policy have changed substantially. Diplomacy is a constitutive part of the system of global health governance. COVID-19 hit the world when multilateral cooperation was subject to major challenges, and global health has since become integral to geopoliti...

This Guide builds on the extensive experience of all four of its authors in both practising and teaching global health diplomacy. In 2013, the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva published the first systematic introduction to the field of global health diplomacy, outlining key concepts, is...

During the pandemic, the world has experienced how the geopolitics of global health have immediate, ruthless repercussions for the lives and livelihoods of billions, say Ilona Kickbusch and Anna Holzscheiter. The challenge of a pandemic treaty negotiation process is to be responsive to these interconnected levels of geopolitics

Background Interest in digital technologies in the health care sector is growing and can be a way to reduce the burden on professional caregivers while helping people to become more independent. Social robots are regarded as a special form of technology that can be usefully applied in professional caregiving with the potential to focus on interpers...

The World Health Organization (WHO), Pandemics, and COVID-19: How to Proceed With a Multilateral Concept of Global Health? The WHO grew to 194 member states, and with globalization, geopolitical shifts, and internal reorganizations, the lines of influence have become more complex. In 2020, the United States severely endangered multilateralism in he...

Digital transformations are well underway in all areas of life. These have brought about substantial and wide-reaching changes, in many areas, including health. But large gaps remain in our understanding of the interface between digital technologies and health, particularly for young people. The Lancet and Financial Times Commission on governing h...

https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/10/05/confronting-future-pandemics-what-could-a-new-treaty-resolve-beyond-the-ihr/ One critical question in the ongoing discussions for an international instrument to deal with future pandemics is to gain clarity on what the issues are that a treaty under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution (WHOC) could resolve beyond...

The World Health Organization (WHO), Pandemics, and COVID-19: How to Proceed With a Multilateral Concept of Global Health? The WHO grew to 194 member states, and with globalization, geopolitical shifts, and internal reorganizations, the lines of influence have become more complex. In 2020, the United States severely endangered multilateralism in he...

COVID-19 has shown us clearly that the world must commit to a transformative approach that promotes health and wellbeing. Living in the Anthropocene – an epoch defined by human impact on our ecosystems – moves us into unknown territory. The challenge is to find a way of living that aims to meet the needs of all people within the means of the living...

Adolescents are growing up in an increasingly digital world. Whilst their access to-and engagements with-the digital world are diverse, adolescents' direct and indirect experiences of digital environments, and the technologies which mediate these interactions, are increasingly important determinants of adolescent well-being. In this background pap...

The proposed pandemic treaty triggered notable discussion in policy and academic circles. Issues discussed included a possible scope, options and process for such treaty, and its links to broader issues such as health security, prevention, human rights and one health. One key issue however - the relationship between a pandemic treaty and the existi...

http://spdimc.org/9%C2%BA-congresso-pandemias-na-era-da-globalizacao/

The article builds on our earlier (Feb 25, 2021) BMJ editorial on the rational and options for an international pandemic treaty, the pioneering piece which bolstered interest and discussion on the topic. The new piece takes the discussion further on three key issues: the scope of such a treaty; the type of treaty to pursue, and the process for its...

The Editorial discusses the rational of - and options for - negotiating and adopting an international treaty to prevent and control pandemics.

This Guide builds on the extensive experience of all four of its authors in both practising and teaching global health diplomacy. In 2013, the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva published the first systematic introduction to the field of global health diplomacy, outlining key concepts, is...

This paper develops a sustainable way to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. The strategy presented here aims to avoid new infections, deaths and more nationwide lockdowns. It consists of three core elements: First, a rapid reduction in the number of infections to zero. Second, the avoidance of transmissions/reintroduction of the virus into virus-free...

Global health is a rapidly emerging discipline with a transformative potential for public policy and international development. Emphasizing transnational health issues, global health aims to improve health and achieve health equity for all people worldwide. Its multidisciplinary scope includes contributions from many disciplines within and beyond t...

The COVID‐19 pandemic, which has brought the world economy to an unprecedented synchronized recession, makes for a profound collective global experience. It should urge us to reshape our collective actions. Echoing the voice of the United Nations Secretary‐General, we need to move from international chaos to the construction of an international glo...

Am 13. und 14. Februar 2020 veranstaltete die Careum Stiftung eine Dialogveranstaltung unter dem Leitthema «Roboter im Gesundheitswesen» in Zürich. Insgesamt 88 Expert*innen aus der Schweiz, Deutschland und Österreich vertraten hierbei die Perspektiven ihrer Professionen. Akteur*innen der direkten Gesundheitsversorgung, des Bildungs- und Sozialsekt...

BACKGROUND The interest in digital technologies in health care is increasing and can be a way of relieving the burden on health care professionals. This relief can lead on the one hand to higher job satisfac-tion an on the other hand to a higher attractiveness of the nursing profession. Social robots are regarded as a special form of technology tha...

This working paper was created as part of a project launched during Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2019. As part of this project an “Informal Expert Group on the EU’s role in global health” was created. The Expert Group met for the first time in October 2019 at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. The p...

Global health is a rapidly emerging discipline with a transformative potential for public policy and international development. Emphasizing transnational health issues, global health aims to improve health and achieve health equity for all people worldwide. Its multidisciplinary scope includes contributions from many disciplines within and beyond t...

Global health governance is in many ways proving more innovative and resilient than other sectors in global governance. In order to understand the mechanisms that have made these developments possible, this article draws on the concept of gridlock, as well as on the additional theoretical strands of metagovernance and adaptive governance, to concep...

What follows here is the Panel’s call for a global urban science. This call takes the three elements of this phrase in a different light from the often popular and at times unnuanced use if the terms. It is ‘global’ in a cosmopolitan sense as pertaining to and reaching out worldwide, irrespective of socio-economic status to the variety of urban con...

In the past, the role of global capital flows for health has not been considered in the debate about key risk factors of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs). This is a blind spot in public health. A significant share of the global food and beverage industry is owned by institutional investors. Cross-border mergers and acquisition volumes in the food, b...

The annual funding need for global health SDG targets is estimated by WHO at US$134 billion per year, rising to US$274-$371bn by 2030. This paper examines the challenge of making sustainable investment structures in global health more attractive for mainstream financial markets. The objective is a framework for targeted future debate with financial...

Ensuring ‘health for all’ remains a persistent and entrenched global challenge. G20 governments are in a position to elevate the priority accorded to health, and acknowledge the centrality of health to attaining the SDGs. The authors call on G20 leaders to build nations that are more inclusive and less divided, by: adopting a Health- in-All-Policie...

The world faces multiple health financing challenges as the global health burden evolves. Countries have set an ambitious health policy agenda for the next 15 years with prioritisation of universal health coverage under the Sustainable Development Goals. The scale of investment needed for equitable access to health services means global health is o...

The International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) Position Statement on Health Literacy provides an overview of existing evidence and continuing debate on health literacy. Developed by the IUHPE Global Working Group on Health Literacy, including experts from around the globe, the Statement provides a basis for discussion and advoca...

The paper analyses the growing and complex interface of health and trade from a viewpoint of health diplomacy and international legal instruments. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), WHO’s first global treaty, had profoundly influenced and enriched trade and heath diplomacy through the legal strength it brought, along with the...

Background: The Global Fund is one of the largest actors in global health. In 2015 the Global Fund was credited with disbursing close to 10 % of all development assistance for health. In 2011 it began a reform process in response to internal reviews following allegations of recipients' misuse of funds. Reforms have focused on grant application pro...

Germany has become a visible actor in global health in the past 10 years. In this Series paper, we describe how this development complements a broad change in perspective in German foreign policy. Catalysts for this shift have been strong governmental leadership, opportunities through G7 and G20 presidencies, and Germany's involvement in managing t...

The article explored - as the first such attempt in academic literature - the health dimension of the new Silk Road (known also as the Belt and Road Initiative). Special emphasis is placed on potential health diplomacy and governance impact of this massive economic and geopolitical initiative.

Reports on the response to Ebola broadly agree on what needs to be done to deal with disease outbreaks. But Suerie Moon and colleagues find that the world is not yet prepared for future outbreaks In August 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in west Africa a public health emergency of international concern, and th...

Do encontro entre saúde e relações internacionais se originam os conceitos e práticas contemporâneos da saúde global e da diplomacia da saúde. Mas tal encontro só se estabeleceu em função do processo de globalização. A crise econômica sistêmica e global, expondo as brechas estruturais do capitalismo global, aprofundou as desigualdades preexistentes...

Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over their health, resulting from the synergy of healthy policy in all sectors of society and health education for all. Health promotion works to enhance health literacy, create supportive environments, and strengthen social networks. Community settings for health promotion incl...

This book provides a systematic collection of EU actors, EU policy and EU actions in global health. It answers key questions on governance of the EU and its policy processes. The book starts with an introduction to the EU as a global actor and continues to outline the historical development and the Treaty basis for health, including the Maastricht...

Public health instruments have been under constant development and renewal for decades. International legal instruments, with their binding character and strength, have a special place in this development. The start of the 21st century saw, in particular, the birth of the first World Health Organization (WHO)-era health treaties – the WHO Framework...

Global health has attracted growing attention from academic institutions. Its emergence corresponds to the increasing interdependence that characterizes our time and provides a new worldview to address health challenges globally. There is still a large potential to better delineate the limits of the field, drawing on a wide perspective across scien...

In light of heavy criticism of the WHO’s handling of the Ebola outbreak, the election process for the next director general will be under intense scrutiny. Devi Sridhar and colleagues outline the key questions on epidemic preparedness for prospective candidates When the member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) elect a new director gene...

The year 2016 could turn out to be a turning point for global health, new political realities and global insecurities will test governance and financing mechanisms in relation to both people and planet. But most importantly political factors such as the global power shift and “the rise of the rest” will define the future of global health. A new mix...

A game changer in global health In September 2015, nearly 200 nations adopted the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) as a transformative, universal framework to address three interwoven dimensions of our global existence—people, planet, and prosperity.1 They are predicated on the notion that sustainability is not just an aspiration but a nece...

Communities are characterized by common interests, common ecology, and common social system or structure. These characteristics, qualities, and processes involved in the community affect both health behaviors and health outcomes during disease outbreaks. Hence, health promotion theorists and practitioners emphasize working ‘with’ rather than ‘on’ c...

Health information systems represent a complex series of efforts to collect, analyze, and report information systematically and sustainably and to derive knowledge and evidence serving various purposes with the ultimate aim of improving health. The terminology used in relation to health information lists notions such as health data, health informat...

Politics play a central part in determining health and development outcomes as Gorik Ooms highlights in his recent commentary. As health becomes more global and more politicized the need grows to better understand the inherently political processes at all levels of governance, such as ideological positions, ideas, value judgments, and power. I agre...

Chancellor Merkel is central but political commitment goes deeper For many people inside and outside Germany the country’s high level political activity on global health is a surprise. What are the reasons behind Germany’s leadership in global health? Is it genuine? Four intersecting factors are at play here: Germany’s new role in the world; its c...

Communities are characterized by common interests, common ecology, and common social system or structure. These characteristics, qualities, and processes involved in the community affect both health behaviors and health outcomes during disease outbreaks. Hence, health promotion theorists and practitioners emphasize working 'with' rather than 'on' c...

EFFORTS TO PROMOTE European economic growth and competitiveness and ensure a stable, prosperous future for the citizens of the European Union (EU) are central to ‘ Europe 2020 ’ — the EU ’ s growth strategy for the present decade. Three key drivers for growth are to be implemented through concrete actions at EU and national levels: smart growth, su...

Diagnostics spanning a wide range of new biotechnologies, including proteomics, metabolomics, and nanotechnology, are emerging as companion tests to innovative medicines. In this Opinion, we present the rationale for promulgating an "Essential Diagnostics List." Additionally, we explain the ways in which adopting a vision for "Health in All Policie...

In this article we reflect on the quality of a realist synthesis paradigm applied to the evaluation of Phase V of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network. The programmatic application of this approach has led to very high response rates and a wealth of important data. All articles in this Supplement report that cities in the network move from small...

A focus on good governance in the WHO European network of Healthy Cities mirrors the WHO Region's strategic emphasis-its member states in the Health 2020 strategy espouse governance for health as key. Healthy Cities adopted governance as a key value and approach to delivering specific health programmes and policies. This article reviews the extent...

The recent Ebola crisis has re-opened the debate on global health governance and the role of the World Health Organization. In order to analyze what is at stake, we apply two conceptual approaches from the social sciences - the work on gridlock and the concept of cosmopolitan moments - to assess the ability of the multilateral governance system to...

When the Ottawa Charter in 1986 had called on health promoters ‘to advocate for a clear political commitment to health and equity in all sectors’, foreign policy was not on the agenda. This changed as health promotion began to concern itself with the impact of globalization on health. Indeed, the recommendations from the 2nd international health pr...

Editor’s Note: These papers are contributions to the ‘Policy Debate’ section of International Development Policy. In this section, academics, policy-makers and practitioners engage in a dialogue on global development challenges. Papers are copy-edited but not peer-reviewed. Instead, the initial thematic contribution is followed by critical comments...

Public health professionals need to become more politically astute to achieve their goals Health is a political choice, and politics is a continuous struggle for power among competing interests. Looking at health through the lens of political determinants means analysing how different power constellations, institutions, processes, interests, and i...

Analyses the presence of health in the post-2015 development agenda as September 2014

Gesundheit ist ein entscheidender Teil unserer Lebensqualität. Dieses Buch konzentriert sich auf die zentrale Rolle, die der Gesundheit in modernen Gesellschaften zukommt. Es beschreibt das neue aktive Gesundheitsverständnis und erläutert die radikale Umorientierung und Neugestaltung, die dadurch erforderlich werden, und es spricht die Paradoxien,...

Background Policy decisions made within all sectors have the potential to influence population health and equity. Recognition of this provides impetus for the health sector to engage with other sectors to facilitate the development of policies that recognise, and aim to improve, population outcomes. This paper compares the approaches implemented to...