Global Health Governance: Building The Reset

This is a global appeal. It is a worldwide open invitation to contribute to the global governance ‘reset’ which will have to follow the current COVID-19 emergency response phase. This is a matter of urgency. The challenges to our health and social systems and the inequities of our economic world order have once again become clear for everybody to see. After the current phase of ‘response’, the world will have to give shape to ‘recovery’ and ‘reset’, locally, nationally, regionally and worldwide. Importantly, the choices we make today will impact on the spaces available for necessary transformations tomorrow. So, we have to be on high alert.

The preparations for recovery and reset will have to start now. Actionably. We think the rich experiences of many health systems governance communities and networks, currently all busy organizing their thoughts and contributions in the face of the current catastrophe, can and should be brought to bear. Hence this proposition to align and focus our collective efforts and with all our energy assemble the concrete building blocks for the future.

All workstreams mentioned in the appeal are available here (for now please register to access this space, but all content will be open-access in the coming days)

Several networks have already signed on: UHC2030, The Collectivity and Covid/Coronavirus Ethics.

We are building a movement, everybody is welcome to join.

Now is the time.

Equity, agency and cultural awareness

Start date: 15 Apr 2020

This stream will foreground how under the pressures of the Covid-19 outbreak, issues around health ‘agency’ and ‘equity’ have gained new importance. Now is the time to reflect on a fundamental rebalancing of powers and responsibilities to deal with health challenges in the future.

Planetary health: the next frontier

Start date: 15 Apr 2020

This stream will reference all contributions which deal with how to move governance focus to the climate change, biodiversity and planetary health fundamentals.

Cross cutting: pathways of change

Start date: 15 Apr 2020

With this appeal, we wish to draw attention to work focused on actionable propositions for governance reset. Beyond the other 6 thematic streams, this stream will support the cross-cutting work, focused on feasible pathways of change.

From mere efficiency to dynamic adaptive systems, rethinking our health systems

Start date: 14 Apr 2020

In this stream we will highlight and reference work dealing with building a shift from a dominant health systems ‘efficiency’ paradigm to complex, dynamic, adaptive systems.

Common goods for Health

Start date: 15 Apr 2020

In this stream, we will put the spotlight on work going on regarding the provision of Common Goods for Health as the "step zero" towards Universal Health Coverage.

New multilateralism in health

Start date: 15 Apr 2020

This stream will revisit the global health architecture. After decades of international development efforts, the CoVID-19 outbreak has demonstrated the advantages but also the deep and acute flaws of the current global health architecture and the powers/powerlessness embedded in that system.