THE WORLD BANK: GLOBAL HEALTH OR GLOBAL HARM?

The World Health Organisation, the World Bank, and the Transition from International to Global Health

Introduction Global health has been defined as the ‘consideration of the health needs of the people of the whole planet above the concerns of particular nations’ (Brown et al. 2006: 62). It differs from the earlier concept of international health, which refers primarily to diseaseand epidemiccontrol across national boundaries (i.e. ‘inter’ + ‘national’), carried out by the governments of sovere...

World Bank and the Global Financing Facility

A t the World Economic Forum this year, World Bank President Jim Kim proposed the Global Financing Facility (GFF) to donors as an innovative model for investing in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition (RMNCAH-N). The World Bank believes that business as usual is not enough to close the annual financing gap of $33.3bn (£25.4bn; €28.4bn) to meet the 2030 sus...

Global Alcohol Harm Network: Struggling or Emerging? A Response to Shiffman

World Health Organization and global health policy.

T he World Health Organization (WHO) was founded in 1948 as a special agency of the United Nations. The WHO goal is “the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health” (WHO, 1999, p.2). To achieve this objective, the main functions of WHO are to direct and coordinate international health work by setting standards and guidelines and to provide technical assistance in cooperat...

The Imperfect World of Global Health Estimates

Global measurement has long been contentious. Three hundred years ago, the exact size and shape of the world were a matter of scientific controversy and estimation. New ways of measurement were developed, and by the early 18 century that uncertainty ceased [1]. One hundred years ago, Sweden started to account for all deaths in its population, by cause, age, and sex [2], and annual summary table...