Global Health Governance, A Conceptual Review

This chapter begins with a brief discussion of why Global Health Governance has become such a subject of discussion and debate. It examines globalization as an historical process characterised by changes in the nature of human interaction across a range of social spheres including the economic, political, technological, cultural and environmental. In broad terms, governance can be defined as the actions and means adopted by a society to promote collective action and deliver collective solutions in pursuit of common goals. Health governance concerns the actions and means adopted by a society to organize itself in the promotion and protection of the health of its population. Globalization from the late twentieth century has emphasised even more poignantly the need for greater attention to the basic determinants of health including so-called non-health issue areas. The values of management-oriented approaches to corporate governance have entered the health lexicon in the guise of clinical governance.