Pathways from the Local to the Global

Abstract

This chapter focusses the discussion on the link between the local and the global. An explanation of globalisation within the context of health promotion is developed, noting how processes of globalisation can impinge on the health of people. We identify who are the ‘winners and losers’ in an increasingly globalised world and what the implications are for health-promotion practitioners in reshaping globalisation in a healthier direction.

We no longer inhabit, if we ever did, a world of discrete national communities. [T]he very nature of everyday living — of work and money and beliefs, as well as of trade, communications and finance … connects us all in multiple ways with increasing intensity.

(Held 2004)