Restructuring Global Health Policy-Making: the Role of Global Public-Private Partnerships

Abstract

The last two decades have seen major shifts in global health policy-making, in terms of actors and agendas and in underlying broader policies and ideologies. First there was a shift from the UN agencies towards financial institutions, then increased influence of private interests in the UN system, and finally global legally independent entities were constructed as public-private partnerships and became important health policy-makers at the global level and at developing country national level.

Judith Richter provided information and insights on public-private partnerships, as well as useful detailed comments on earlier versions. With Meri Koivusalo I have worked on global health policy issues, and I owe Meri much for insights on the linkages between health policy and industrial and trade policies. Outi Hakkarainen researched sources of and targets for development aid. Maureen Mackintosh provided important comments on the draft and improved the text substantially with her editing. My thanks to all of them. However, the responsibility for the final product rests solely on me.