14.02.2019

Reflections from the Prince Mahidol Award Conference, Bangkok

The Political Economy of Global Health

International Health Policy (IHP) "Rachel Thompson is a researcher currently based at a UK think-tank. In this blog she shares her personal reflections from the recent Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) on the political economy of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), considering the wider implications for our understanding of Global Health.

(...) Once we understand Global Health as inseparable from Neoliberalism, we can begin to get to the root causes of why so much of the world are being “left behind” from global goals. To ignore its influence is to deceive ourselves and the people we are trying to serve. Once we understand Global Health as part of a system that has increased global inequalities and inequities, it seems strange to expect it to do the opposite – to “reduce inequities” e.g. as part of Agenda 2030’s leave no one behind pledge. This is the paradox at the heart of my frustrations with Global Health." (Photo: USAID ASIA/flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)