Global governance and Equity

Among the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a need for a broader engagement of civil society and other stakeholders in global health governance mechanisms and a more robust engagement of high-level policymakers in the multilateral system efforts on preparedness and responses to health threats. The special session of the WHA, celebrated in December 2021, has formally launched the discussion of a new international pandemic treaty. The need for a new legally binding agreement arises as a response from the UN multilateral system to the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic response independent evaluation and the social and political criticisms to the global response.

“Good governance for health could only be achieved if we stop playing by the book and integrate the health and equity perspective to the policy-making and decision-making processes at all levels, especially in the global fora.”
— Global Governance TWG

These challenges may benefit from discussing a new holistic paradigm for the definition and implementation of health system governance strategies for sustainable health equity at the national and local levels. As demonstrated by Dr. Paganini, such a complex and structural issue could only be supported by the general theory of complex social systems and the pursuit of broad social agreement towards the right to health for all. The SHEM thematic working group on global governance and equity connects a broad global network of public health experts, researchers, and policy influencers to support the advocacy for more robust and democratic global health governance mechanisms. We do so under the conviction that sustainable health equity should also be the ethical principle driving all national, regional, and global efforts to strengthen governance capacities. The TWG will be collaborating with the TWG on Health Systems and Equity to focus on this policy neglected issue

Considering that we are setting in motion a new network, we propose two main orientations. First, some activities aimed to engage the volunteers, expand and consolidate the governance network of the SHEM; and second, another group of actions focused on generating inputs for SHEM and its member's statements on relevant issues of the global health policy agenda.

 
 

Global governance and Equity Repository

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