Spring 2002 Policy Roundtable Series

Globalization and Health:

How can globalization be managed to reduce inequalities?

Background

The phenomenon of globalization - a process resulting from political and economic changes leading to the flow of capital across national boundaries and the liberalization of trade rules - has profoundly influenced almost every aspect of human activity today, including politics, economics, science, law, religion, culture, and health. The ability of nations to mount effective policies to both domestic and international challenges has been constrained by the process of globalization, represented by international trade agreements (GATT, NAFTA), the increasing prominence of multinational lending agencies (World Bank, IMF) and philanthropies, and the worldwide dissemination of information via the Internet. The ambivalent consequences of globalization have prompted organized resistance at times, but nonetheless promise great benefits and important opportunities.

The Harvard Health Caucus will explore how these changes have influenced health and health policy. Under globalization, health concerns that were once addressed nationally are increasingly acknowledged as problems that must be addressed through multinational collaborative efforts. Infectious disease, for example, challenges the world in ways not seen since the pre-antibiotic era. Today, given the vastly increased number of airline passengers and flights brought about by the expansion of the world economy under globalization, an individual with a multi-drug resistant strain of tuberculosis can easily fly from the capital of Peru to New York City in less than 24 hours. Thus, local policy makers are forced to integrate international health concerns into their domestic public health strategies. HIV/AIDS in the developing world, patent laws as they effect access to medications, and clinical trials are other examples of the many health concerns that have risen to global prominence and require cooperative, international solutions.

The Caucus is particularly interested in the relationship between globalization and inequalities in health. The dynamic is complex, and while the link between increasing inequalities in health and globalization is not always clear, it is obvious that the process of globalization has highlighted many pre-existing disparities in health around the globe, in some cases contributing to inequalities and in others reducing them. Variations in the distribution of antiretroviral therapies, decisions on which drugs to develop, disparate access to health-related information and technology, and wide variations in public health expenditures within the developing world are just a few aspects of the health inequalities brought into the light under globalization. It is this mix of positives and negatives that has made globalization as contentious an issue within health as it is in other domains.

Through a series of roundtable discussions the Caucus will bring together students and experts in the diverse fields that inform health policy in order to explore the impact of globalization in health and to suggest strategies for ensuring that this process reduces health inequalities. The caucus will incorporate the various disciplines of medicine, law, science, ethics, religion, art, business, public health, and education, as we examine the effects of globalization on health. Each panel will focus on a particular challenge to the global health agenda and possible approaches to its resolution. Underlying the entire series will be an attention to the theme of inequality.

Panels in the Series

The following links are to the pages being created for each panel in the series. Please contact individual panel coordinators if you would like to be more involved in a particular panel.

Healthier or Wealthier: Which comes first in the new global era? 25 February 2002

The Crisis of Neglected Diseases: Creating R&D Incentives for Diseases of Developing Countries

28 February 2002

Health Care Education in the Developing World: Bridging Global and Local Health Care Practices 7 March 2002

Building a Legal Framework for Global Health: How can the US and UN work to reduce global disparities? 20 March 2002

Riding East: The Global Tobacco Control Movement and the Role of the Mass Media 25 April 2002

Panel Planning Resources

PRS Meeting Materials

Introductory Meeting Materials (19 September 2001)