Global public health
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Global public health · Jan 2015
Historical ArticleEndgame for polio eradication? Options for overcoming social and political factors in the progress to eradicating polio.
In 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was launched with the goal of eradicating polio by the year 2000. After 25 years, several dynamics still challenge this large public health campaign with new cases of polio being reported annually. We examine the roots of this initiative to eradicate polio, its scope, the successes and setbacks during the last 25 years and reflect on the current state of affairs. ⋯ The travails of the GPEI indicate the need for expanding the Convention on the Rights of the Child to address situations of war and civic strife. Such a cultural and structural reference will provide the basis for global stakeholders to engage belligerent local actors whose local political conflicts are barriers to the eradication of polio. Disregard for these actors will result in stagnation of polio eradication policy, delaying eradication beyond 2018.
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Global public health · Jan 2014
Improving health services for African migrants in China: A health diplomacy perspective.
Global health has become an increasingly prominent component of foreign policy in the last decade. The term health diplomacy has been used to describe this growing interface between foreign policy and global health, and it encompasses both the concept of using health to further foreign policy objectives as well as the idea that diplomatic tools can be helpful for attaining public health goals. The Chinese presence in Africa has grown in the last 15 years, generating increased interest in Sino-African relations. ⋯ Many are small-scale traders and might be expected to face many of the health challenges common among foreign migrants, but their health needs have been largely unrecognised. In this paper, we consider how a health diplomacy approach could be applied to African migrants in China, and the potential advantages and limitations of this strategy. We identify areas of overlap between public health, trade and foreign policy goals that can be emphasised to generate support for improved services for African migrants in China and to engage partners from a diversity of sectors.
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Global public health · Jan 2014
Barriers to appropriate care for mothers and infants during the perinatal period in rural Afghanistan: a qualitative assessment.
This study, conducted in five rural districts in Afghanistan, used qualitative methods to explore traditional practices of women, families and communities related to maternal and newborn care, and sociocultural and health system issues that create access barriers. The traditional practices discussed include delayed bathing of mothers and delayed breastfeeding of infants, seclusion of women after childbirth, restricted maternal diet, and use of traditional home remedies and self-medication instead of care in health facilities to treat maternal and newborn conditions. This study also looked at community support structures, transportation and care-seeking behaviour for maternal and newborn problems which create access barriers. ⋯ Targeted and more effective behaviour-change communication programmes are needed. This study presents a set of behaviour-change messages to reduce maternal and newborn mortality associated with births occurring at home in rural communities. This study recommends using religious leaders, trained health workers, family health action groups and radio to disseminate these messages.
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Global public health · Jan 2014
Beyond Cairo: sexual and reproductive rights of young people in the new development agenda.
At the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), women's rights advocates fundamentally shifted the way the global development community views poverty, gender equality and reproductive rights. While the ICPD's call to action led to a marked improvement in reproductive health, more remains to be done to secure the sexual and reproductive rights and health of all, particularly for young people. As we approach the 20-year anniversary of Cairo, several global processes are happening concurrently that have implications for the future of the sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda, including the 20-year review of progress towards achieving the Cairo Programme of Action, the review of the Millennium Development Goals, and the open group discussions about the sustainable development goals and the new development agenda post-2015. There are five key areas of action where significant investment is needed moving forward to ensure young people's access and safeguard their rights: repeal outdated laws and create new policies that safeguard young people's health and rights; provide youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services; guarantee young people's access to information and education; end gender discrimination and ensure government accountability.
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Both the theory and practice of foreign policy and diplomacy, including systems of hard and soft power, are undergoing paradigm shifts, with an increasing number of innovative actors and strategies contributing to international relations outcomes in the 'New World Order'. Concurrently, global health programmes continue to ascend the political spectrum in scale, scope and influence. This concatenation of circumstances has demanded a re-examination of the existing and potential effectiveness of global health programmes in the 'smart power' context, based on adherence to a range of design, implementation and assessment criteria, which may simultaneously optimise their humanitarian, foreign policy and diplomatic effectiveness. ⋯ The desirability of making diplomatic and foreign policy criteria explicit, rather than implicit, in the context of global health programme design, delivery and evaluation are reflected in the identified implications for (1) international security, (2) programme evaluation, (3) funding and resource allocation decisions, (4) approval systems and (5) training. On this basis, global health programmes are shown to provide a valuable, yet underutilised, tool for diplomacy and foreign policy purposes, including their role in the pursuit of benign international influence. A corresponding alignment of resources between 'hard' and 'smart' power options is encouraged.