Globalization and Health

Boldly situating public health and wellbeing within the dynamic forces of global development, Globalization and Health is a pioneering, transdisciplinary ...

List of Papers (Total 1,374)

Sugar, power and policy: The political economy of a health and economic ‘win–win’ in Fiji’s sugar-sweetened beverage tax

In 2006, the Fiji Government introduced a 0.05FJ$ (0.03USD) per litre excise tax on domestically produced sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Since then, the tax has been abandoned, reintroduced, or adjusted at least ten times, while tariffs on imported SSBs have also undergone reform. These rapid iterations of Fiji’s SSB tax raise questions about which interests and motivations...

Strategies for improving migrant health in Iran: a realist review

Migration is a growing global phenomenon and a recognized social determinant of health, contributing to significant health inequities between migrant and host populations. Iran, hosting an estimated 4.5 million migrants—including undocumented individuals—faces persistent challenges in ensuring equitable access to healthcare. This study identifies strategies to inform context...

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on maternal mortality: evidence from global, developed and developing countries

This study examines the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on maternal mortality in alignment with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.1, which aims to reduce maternal mortality to below 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. Despite advancements, maternal mortality remains disproportionately high in developing countries due to weaker healthcare infrastructure. Using panel data...

Understanding the political economy of reforming global health initiatives – insights from global and country levels

Since 2000, the number and role of global health initiatives (GHIs) has been growing, with these platforms playing an increasingly important role in pooling and disbursing funds dedicated to specific global health priorities. While recognising their important contribution, there has also been a growth in concerns about distortions and inefficiencies linked to the GHIs and...

Understanding international travelers’ intentions to adopt protective behaviors against malaria during staying abroad: insights from a study of Chinese international travelers

Imported malaria cases from endemic regions pose significant challenges for malaria-free countries, leading to diagnostic delays, high treatment costs, and the potential for secondary local transmissions. There is a lack of understanding regarding the cognitive decision-making processes that influence travelers’ intentions to engage in protective behaviors against malaria. This...

Lived experiences of migrant men witnessing and surviving sexual violence in European transit spaces

Despite increased scholarly attention to sexual violence, victimization among migrant men and boys remains under researched. This study aims to explore 1) migrant men’s views on and understandings of sexual victimization, 2) their own experiences with surviving and witnessing sexual violence during their past and ongoing migration journeys and 3) the consequences of such...

Internationalisation and moral economies in healthcare: NHS exporting and the English patient

Contemporary conditions require detailed study of internationalisation. This article offers a novel perspective on processes of internationalisation in healthcare, adapting an approach from higher education studies and enhancing it with insights from sociological scholarship on moral economies. The article asks how institutions and individuals respond to the globalising...

Research on artificial intelligence, machine and deep learning in medicine: global characteristics, readiness, and equity

Artificial intelligence (AI) will have a lasting and drastic impact on medical research and healthcare. In addition to the benefits, the associated risks are also the subject of controversial debate and there are fears of serious consequences. There is an urgent need for action, which must be underpinned by scientific information. By analyzing temporal and geographic patterns...

Labelling the debate: a thematic analysis of alcohol industry submissions to the EU consultation on alcohol health warnings in Ireland

Building on the success of tobacco health warning labels, EU Member States and institutions are increasingly considering similar requirements for alcohol products. While industry responses to pricing and availability policies have been widely studied, their framing of Alcohol Health Warning Labels (AHWLs) as a policy solution remains comparatively underexplored. This paper...

Digital activism in Kenya: moving from the digital center to the digital periphery of Long Covid experience

Digital activism around Long Covid has reverberated around the globe, as patients, researchers, and clinicians worked together to understand the chronic condition. However, Long Covid networks, much like other social networks, have hierarchies and barriers that can impede equitable access. In this article, we examine how the global digital center and periphery shape how people...

Generating political priority for breastfeeding and the adoption of Kenya’s 2012 BMS act: the importance of women’s leadership

The World Health Organization recommends initiating breastfeeding in the first hour of life, exclusive breastfeeding for six months, and continued breastfeeding for at least two years. Aggressive marketing of breast milk substitutes (BMS) undermines breastfeeding and is linked to adverse child and maternal health outcomes. This is particularly problematic in the Global South...

An investigation into telemedicine utilization for refugee mental health: a systematic review

Telemedicine is mentioned as a technological solution in various fields of medicine and nowadays using telemedicine in the field of mental health in the refugee population, has attracted special attention in the world. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the usage of telemedicine in the refugee populations mental health. This study, conducted in 2024...

Trends and cross-country inequalities of alcohol use disorders: findings from the global burden of disease study 2021

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) imposes a significant burden on individuals and society. With globalization, transnational alcohol corporations influence policy enforcement and consumer behavior, hindering cost-effective and evidence-based interventions such as reducing alcohol availability and restricting alcohol advertising, as recommended in the World Health Organization (WHO) Best...

“Favoring those who contributed to their political campaigns”: an analysis of the incentives received by the food industry in Colombia in the period of 2018—2020

The food industry is a very influential actor in public health policies in Colombia. In particular, industry incentives, such as financial donations and other gifts to political parties, can help develop future alliances and initiate an exchange of favors. The objective of this study was to analyze the incentives granted by the food industry to policymakers in Colombia from 2018...

Safeguarding health in bilateral investment treaties: the Uruguayan experience

The proliferation of International Investment Agreements (IIAs), as the result of globalization, has been identified as one of the factors contributing to policy inertia or chill on meaningful public health policy action. Health safeguards, i.e., specific clauses to protect the State’s right to regulate, have been increasingly included in IIAs to protect health policy. However...

“Stop, don’t touch, run away!”: reconceptualizing firearm industry-funded youth education programs as corporate political activity

Injuries represent a major threat to child health globally. In the US, firearm injuries are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents. Despite limited evidence of their effectiveness industry-funded bodies promote the delivery of their youth education programs while lobbying against firearm control policies. This article analyzes how the National Rifle Association...

Obesity Kuznets Curve conjecture assessment in African economies: conditioning effects of urbanization, food, and trade using gender-based regional analysis

Obesity is recognized as a significant health challenge in Africa, contributing to the double burden of malnutrition and elevating the risks of diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. Existing studies on the Obesity Kuznets Curve (OKC) assessment overlook Africa’s unique socio-economic and gender-specific dynamics. In light of the claim that different socioeconomic...

Transition in care interventions for Refugee, Immigrant and other Migrant (RIM) populations: a health equity-oriented scoping review

Transition in care involves the transfer of responsibility for aspects of patient and public health care among providers, institutions, and health and social sectors. Indeed, health systems increasingly require individuals to interact with a number of providers, in a number of health settings, and across multiple points of time. Refugees, immigrants, and migrant (RIM) individuals...

The Gates Foundation’s network diplomacy in European donor countries

The Gates Foundation is the most influential private philanthropic foundation in global health and development. This article examines how the Foundation has developed an unparalleled capacity to rally other donors to its priorities, which include the development and distribution of technological tools to reduce the burden of infectious disease and child mortality in the world’s...

Framing alcohol harm in the UN context – the importance of language

Alcohol is a global health issue with a high level of controversy. After being absent from World Health Organization (WHO) global governing body discussions for about 20 years, alcohol re-entered the agenda in 2005. The expression ‘harmful use of alcohol’ became the compromise language after hard negotiations, an example of ‘adopted language” that has remained for almost 20 years...

Incremental financial costs of strengthening large-scale child nutrition programs in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Vietnam: retrospective expenditure analysis

Inattention to young child growth and development in a transitioning global environment can undermine the foundation of human capital and future progress. Diets that provide adequate energy and nutrients are critical for children’s physical and cognitive development from 6 to 23.9 months of age and beyond. Still, over 70% of young children do not receive foods with sufficient...

Navigating authoritarian politics: towards reflexive framing in healthcare research

How do Northern Global Health scholars navigate authoritarian political contexts in their research in other countries? This question motivated the research project on which this article is based. Over ten months, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with sixteen European and North American scholars who were engaged in health-related research in an authoritarian country we...

Why do International Health Regulations self-assessment capacities (SPAR) scores not predict COVID-19 control outcomes? – analysis of the relationship between SPAR scores and COVID-19 resilience scores in 2021

This study analyses the relationship between SPAR and the COVID-19 resilience score (CRS) in 80 countries in 2021 to achieve its objective. We adopted the concept of Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking to form the CRS, which encompasses three indicators: Reopening Status, COVID Status, and Quality of Life. The average scores of 13 SPAR capacities focused on infectious disease...

Health expenditure, governance and SDG3 nexus: a longitudinal analysis in BRICS economies

Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3): good health and well-being, requires significant health investments and effective governance. While many studies explored the influence of health expenditure and governance, little is known about how different levels of governance affect the relationship between health expenditure and SDG3 in a globalised world. Thus, this study...

Towards multilingualism in global health

A forgotten aspect of the decolonizing global health movement is the impact of monolingualism on the practice of medicine and global health. Thousands of languages are spoken worldwide yet remarkably few are used in these fields. English, in particular, plays an extraordinarily dominant role. The status of English as the global medical lingua franca perpetuates inequities in...