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Global Health Policy
and Health Systems
"Global health is collaborative transnational
research and action for promoting health
for all". Beaglehole’s and Bonita’s (2010)
short answer emphasises the key elements
as health equity, healthy environment,
universal access to health care, and action-
orientation. The challenges to health for all
are many. While the global dimension of
pandemics is self-evident, the solutions to
many other health issues, such as mitiga-
tion of health effects of climate change,
migrant health, malnutrition, violence and
injuries, as well as unequal and poor access
to health care and medicines, are equally
dependent on a coordinated global effort
and global solidarity as enshrined in the
human right to health.
Global health is still a concept under
development. Academic institutions across
the world are working on it and reorient
their agendas towards a global health
perspective and move to a transdisciplinary
approach within and beyond the health
sector, including other disciplines such as
geography, political sciences, anthropo-
logy, law and trade. We started this working
group in 2011 along with the initiation of
the Heidelberg Initiative for Global Health
(HIGH), as a university-wide transdiscipli-
nary platform for global health, which was
lauched in 2012. It comprises partners from
the University Hospital, the University and
its Center for the Environment, as well as
associated institutions, such as the German
Cancer Research Center.
Within this transdisciplinary context and
partnership, the working group monitors
and analyses major global health policy
issues and processes, with a focus on
1. the implementation of WHO’s global stra-
tegy and plan of action on public health,
innovation and intellectual property
(GSPOA),
2. the analysis of the strengths and limi-
tations of the millennium development
goal (MDG) concept and related con-
sequences for post-MDG development
goals beyond 2015,
3. models for global partnerships in
research and development, and
4. governance, leadership and priority
setting in global health based on a
human rights approach.
Group leader:
Prof. Albrecht Jahn
Members:
Prof. Olaf Müller*
Dr. Manuela De Allegri*
Dr. Rafael Bauschke**
Caroline Zöllner, MSc
Abdulai Abubakari, MSc
*Associated members
**Associated member, based at the
Institute of political sciences
Projects:
Go4Health: Formulating new goals for
global health, and proposing new gover-
nance for global health that will allow the
achievement of these goals
This is a EU-FP7-project starting in September
2012 and addressing the following objectives:
General objective:
To propose New health development goals
(NHDG), embedded in a global social contract.