Current and Future Issues in Global Health Diplomacy

This chapter provides an overview of the issues that are addressed by global health diplomacy and are discussed in more detailed case studies in the remaining chapters of this book. These are health issues that transcend national boundaries to affect the health of people in rich and poor countries and require concerted international effort to address them. Many such issues arise from the impact of globalization on health, which serves to accelerate not only the transmission of communicable disease but also the spread of unhealthy products and lifestyles. Health in fragile states poses complex challenges for global health diplomacy, requiring even greater engagement with all parties. This need for wider engagement to create a global movement for health and to establish pathways through which multiple actors can work together is the common theme that emerges at many different levels. It heralds a new era of global health governance recognizing the voice and contribution of all parties.