Today's era of intense globalization has unleashed dynamic movements of people, pathogens, and pests that overwhelm the static territorial jurisdictions on which the governance provided by sovereign states and their formal intergovernmental institutions is based. This world of movement calls for new ideas and institutions to govern people's health, above all in Africa, where the movements and health challenges are the most acute. This book insightfully explores these challenges in ways that put the perspectives of Africans themselves at centre stage. It begins with the long central and still compelling African health challenge of combating the pandemic of HIV/AIDS. It then examines the global governance responses by the major multilateral organizations of the World Bank and the World Trade Organization and the newer informal flexible democratically oriented ones of the Group of Eight. It also addresses the compounding health challenge created by climate change to assess both its intensifying impact on Africa and how all international institutions have largely failed to link climate and health in their governance response. It concludes with several recommendations about the innovative ideas and institutions that offer a way to closing the great global governance gaps and thus improving Africans' health and that of citizens beyond.
Today's era of intense globalization has unleashed dynamic movements of people, pathogens, and pests that overwhelm the static territorial jurisdictions on which the governance provided by sovereign states and their formal intergovernmental institutions is based.
'A timely and much needed analysis of a continent undergoing rapid transition resulting in complex health consequences. Africa's experiences of globalization are poorly understood so far, yet need to be urgently grappled with for effective governance to be built locally and regionally. This book takes us neatly forward in this task.' Kelley Lee, Simon Fraser University, Canada and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK 'The governance of global health now requires a profound transformation, to accommodate the accelerating health challenges from a world defined by intense globalization, the growing recognition of the close connections between health and climate change, and the tightening links between global and regional governance. Nowhere are these dynamics more acute than in Africa, which still struggles with the burden of HIV/AIDS, neglected tropical diseases and maternal health. This book insightfully charts these new dynamics and identifies possible governance solutions, many of them beyond the health sector. It is a most timely contribution, as the world moves to meet the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 and to shape improved sustainable development goals for the years beyond.' Ilona Kickbusch, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland This book is a very interesting and important analysis of the evolving health challenges of Africa, how these are being addressed and the problems of evolving a new and integrative system of aid and healthcare reform within the constraints of the established regimes in the different countries, and the continuing constraints of 'third world' economies. Medicine, conflict and Survival