Cargando…

A critical assessment of the ideological underpinnings of current practice in global health and their historical origins

Background: The current approach to global health has significantly contributed to improving it, as evidenced by the progress made toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, the health gains achieved are often highly unequitable, and the current approach is expected to be insufficient...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kim, Hani, Novakovic, Uros, Muntaner, Carles, Hawkes, Michael T.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Taylor & Francis 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6713144/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31431145
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2019.1651017
_version_ 1783446827394138112
author Kim, Hani
Novakovic, Uros
Muntaner, Carles
Hawkes, Michael T.
author_facet Kim, Hani
Novakovic, Uros
Muntaner, Carles
Hawkes, Michael T.
author_sort Kim, Hani
collection PubMed
description Background: The current approach to global health has significantly contributed to improving it, as evidenced by the progress made toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, the health gains achieved are often highly unequitable, and the current approach is expected to be insufficient to meet the future health equity challenges. There is an urgent need to re-think and expand the scope of research and programmatic strategies. Objective: This paper aims to assess the ideological underpinnings of the currently dominant norms in global health, with the goal of highlighting the research and programmatic areas that are marginalized and warrant greater efforts in order to resolve persistent health inequity and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Methods: We have conducted a critical review of the literature that traces the historical origins of global health to the period between the mid-19th century and the end of the 20th century. Results: Critical review of the historical origins of global health reveals a set of dominant norms in global health that are ideological in character, and profoundly shape the current practice. We identified key manifestations of the ideological underpinnings as 1) Democratic deficit, 2) Depoliticization of the discourse, 3) Marginalization of the scholarship that interrogates the relations of power. Conclusion: Examination of the dominant norms that shape the foundation of our knowledge and action in global health is required to solve persistent health inequity challenges and meet the SDGs. Inversion of the key manifestations of the dominant norms can serve as guiding principles to elaborate alternative frameworks that have the theoretical and programmatic potential for a fundamental rather than an incremental change in the practice of global health.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6713144
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher Taylor & Francis
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-67131442019-09-05 A critical assessment of the ideological underpinnings of current practice in global health and their historical origins Kim, Hani Novakovic, Uros Muntaner, Carles Hawkes, Michael T. Glob Health Action Review Article Background: The current approach to global health has significantly contributed to improving it, as evidenced by the progress made toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, the health gains achieved are often highly unequitable, and the current approach is expected to be insufficient to meet the future health equity challenges. There is an urgent need to re-think and expand the scope of research and programmatic strategies. Objective: This paper aims to assess the ideological underpinnings of the currently dominant norms in global health, with the goal of highlighting the research and programmatic areas that are marginalized and warrant greater efforts in order to resolve persistent health inequity and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Methods: We have conducted a critical review of the literature that traces the historical origins of global health to the period between the mid-19th century and the end of the 20th century. Results: Critical review of the historical origins of global health reveals a set of dominant norms in global health that are ideological in character, and profoundly shape the current practice. We identified key manifestations of the ideological underpinnings as 1) Democratic deficit, 2) Depoliticization of the discourse, 3) Marginalization of the scholarship that interrogates the relations of power. Conclusion: Examination of the dominant norms that shape the foundation of our knowledge and action in global health is required to solve persistent health inequity challenges and meet the SDGs. Inversion of the key manifestations of the dominant norms can serve as guiding principles to elaborate alternative frameworks that have the theoretical and programmatic potential for a fundamental rather than an incremental change in the practice of global health. Taylor & Francis 2019-08-21 /pmc/articles/PMC6713144/ /pubmed/31431145 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2019.1651017 Text en © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review Article
Kim, Hani
Novakovic, Uros
Muntaner, Carles
Hawkes, Michael T.
A critical assessment of the ideological underpinnings of current practice in global health and their historical origins
title A critical assessment of the ideological underpinnings of current practice in global health and their historical origins
title_full A critical assessment of the ideological underpinnings of current practice in global health and their historical origins
title_fullStr A critical assessment of the ideological underpinnings of current practice in global health and their historical origins
title_full_unstemmed A critical assessment of the ideological underpinnings of current practice in global health and their historical origins
title_short A critical assessment of the ideological underpinnings of current practice in global health and their historical origins
title_sort critical assessment of the ideological underpinnings of current practice in global health and their historical origins
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6713144/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31431145
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2019.1651017
work_keys_str_mv AT kimhani acriticalassessmentoftheideologicalunderpinningsofcurrentpracticeinglobalhealthandtheirhistoricalorigins
AT novakovicuros acriticalassessmentoftheideologicalunderpinningsofcurrentpracticeinglobalhealthandtheirhistoricalorigins
AT muntanercarles acriticalassessmentoftheideologicalunderpinningsofcurrentpracticeinglobalhealthandtheirhistoricalorigins
AT hawkesmichaelt acriticalassessmentoftheideologicalunderpinningsofcurrentpracticeinglobalhealthandtheirhistoricalorigins
AT kimhani criticalassessmentoftheideologicalunderpinningsofcurrentpracticeinglobalhealthandtheirhistoricalorigins
AT novakovicuros criticalassessmentoftheideologicalunderpinningsofcurrentpracticeinglobalhealthandtheirhistoricalorigins
AT muntanercarles criticalassessmentoftheideologicalunderpinningsofcurrentpracticeinglobalhealthandtheirhistoricalorigins
AT hawkesmichaelt criticalassessmentoftheideologicalunderpinningsofcurrentpracticeinglobalhealthandtheirhistoricalorigins