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Development aid, humanitarianism, and health

Section Editor: Tim Shorten, Consultant, UK
Deputy Section Editor: Divya Parmar, King's College London, UK and Frédérique Vallières, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Development theories and development assistance have been fixtures on the global health landscape for decades, most recently with adoption of the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Considerable controversies continue to surround health development assistance, including the complex forms it takes (vertical, diagonal, horizontal), the lack of consistency over time, disbursements driven by donor interests rather than need, high transaction costs of poor donor coordination, a ‘charity’ rather than ‘entitlement’ approach, the rise of global philanthropies, and the lack of coherence between donors’ aid and their international trade/macroeconomic policies. In recent years, the role of micro-financing has been advanced as a key development strategy, although it remains controversial; and ‘social impact investing’ (where private investors finance projects with global social/public good outcomes, but also with the expectation of profit) is inserting a market logic into previously humanitarian notions of assistance or obligation.

Papers submitted under this section will explore all forms and underlying theories of economic development and financial transfers from richer to poorer nations, and how these affect health outcomes, health systems, progress towards the SDGs and targets and impacts on social/structural determinants of health.

  1. Over the past three decades, there has been an unprecedented growth in development assistance for health through different financing models, ranging from donations to results-based approaches, to improve healt...

    Authors: Rand Mushasha and Charbel El Bcheraoui
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:39
    Content type: Review Published on:

  2. Trilateral South‒South cooperation is envisioned as an equal and empowering partnership model but still faces certain challenges. This study addresses whether and how trilateral South‒South cooperation can tra...

    Authors: Aidan Huang, Chunkai Cao, Angela Y. Xiao, Hermès Karemere, Molima E. Christian, Kenanewabo K. Nicolas, Meng Xue and Kun Tang
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:37
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. While critique on Global Health is not new, recent years show a surge of criticism on the field’s colonial legacy and practices specifically. Such accounts argue that despite Global Health’s strive for univers...

    Authors: Robert A.J. Borst, Rik Wehrens and Roland Bal
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:19
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. The COVID-19 pandemic and the climate emergency threaten progress in reaching many of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets by 2030. The under-5 mortality and maternal mortality rates are well below t...

    Authors: Eilish Hannah, Bernadette O’Hare, Marisol Lopez, Stuart Murray, Rachel Etter-Phoya, Stephen Hall and Michael Masiya
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:17
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. The vast investments that have been made in recent decades in new medicines, vaccines, and technologies will only lead to improvements in health if there are appropriate and well-functioning health systems to ...

    Authors: Alexander Kentikelenis, Abdul Ghaffar, Martin McKee, Livia Dal Zennaro and David Stuckler
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:106
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Global threats to health and health security are growing. Fragile and failed states, armed groups, ungoverned spaces, outbreaks and potential unknown “Disease X” threats, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), hybrid...

    Authors: John M Quinn, Trisha Jigar, Michael Reinwald, Percy S T Annan, Thomas Aapore, James M Wilson, Margaret Ellis Bourdeaux, Timo Ulrichs, Martin CM Bricknell, Alan Moore, Stefan Goebbels and Christian Haggenmiller
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:39
    Content type: Short report Published on:

  7. Dietary patterns are associated with health outcomes and environment sustainability, having socioeconomic drivers. This ecological study aims to identify dietary patterns in food availability data at the globa...

    Authors: Gabriel Gonçalves da Costa, Giovanna da Conceição Nepomuceno, Alessandra da Silva Pereira and Bruno Francisco Teixeira Simões
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:31
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Global health education partnerships should be collaborative and reciprocal to ensure mutual benefit. Utilisation of digital technologies can overcome geographic boundaries and facilitate collaborative global ...

    Authors: Roshit K. Bothara, Malama Tafuna’i, Tim J. Wilkinson, Jen Desrosiers, Susan Jack, Philip K. Pattemore, Tony Walls, Faafetai Sopoaga, David R. Murdoch and Andrew P. Miller
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:99
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. Global health partnerships (GHPs) are situated in complex political and economic relationships and involve partners with different needs and interests (e.g., government agencies, non-governmental organizations...

    Authors: Katrina M. Plamondon, Ben Brisbois, Leslie Dubent and Charles P. Larson
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:73
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. To date (April 2021), medical device (MD) design approaches have failed to consider the contexts where MDs can be operationalised. Although most of the global population lives and is treated in Low- and Middle...

    Authors: Davide Piaggio, Rossana Castaldo, Marco Cinelli, Sara Cinelli, Alessia Maccaro and Leandro Pecchia
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:64
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. The success of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is predicated on multisectoral collaboration (MSC), and the COVID-19 pandemic makes it more urgent to learn how this can be done better. Complex challeng...

    Authors: Rachael Hinton, Corinne Armstrong, Eriana Asri, Klaus Baesel, Sarah Barnett, Carla Blauvelt, Saidatul Norbaya Bt Buang, Louise Bury, Jai K. Das, Jennifer Franz-Vasdeki, Helia Molina Milman, John Murray, Susana Palma, Ilona Renner, Marion Roche, Victoria Saint…
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:18
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  13. Global health donors are increasingly transitioning funding responsibility to host governments as aid budgets plateau or decline and countries meet development and disease burden goals. Civil society organizat...

    Authors: Amy McDonough and Daniela C. Rodríguez
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:110
    Content type: Review Published on:

  14. Nepal, a South Asian country, was in nationwide lockdown for nearly three months in 2020 with partial restrictions still in place. Much worryingly, COVID-19 induced restrictions have confined women and young g...

    Authors: Minakshi Dahal, Pratik Khanal, Sajana Maharjan, Bindu Panthi and Sushil Nepal
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:84
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  15. HIV/AIDS has attracted considerable research attention since the 1980s. In the current context of globalization and the predominance of cooperative work, it is crucial to analyze the participation of the count...

    Authors: Gregorio González-Alcaide, Marouane Menchi-Elanzi, Edy Nacarapa and José-Manuel Ramos-Rincón
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:83
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been found in more than 200 countries worldwide since December, 2019. In China, a major reason for the rapid transmission of the COVID-19 in early stage of the...

    Authors: Zi-Han Liu, Yan-Jie Zhao, Yuan Feng, Qinge Zhang, Bao-Liang Zhong, Teris Cheung, Brian J. Hall and Yu-Tao Xiang
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:75
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  17. China has played an increasing role in development aid across Africa. Most recently, China has increased its external investments through the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s signature infrastructure and trad...

    Authors: Garrison Daly, Joan Kaufman, Shuang Lin, Liangmin Gao, Melissa Reyes, Sarah Matemu and Wafaa El-Sadr
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:71
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. Global progress in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires significant national and international research efforts and collaboration. The current study aimed to provide policymakers, ...

    Authors: Waleed M. Sweileh
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:68
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. Accelerated globalisation has substantially contributed to the rise of emerging markets worldwide. The G7 and Emerging Markets Seven (EM7) behaved in significantly different macroeconomic ways before, during, ...

    Authors: Mihajlo Jakovljevic, Yuriy Timofeyev, Chhabi Lal Ranabhat, Paula Odete Fernandes, João Paulo Teixeira, Nemanja Rancic and Vladimir Reshetnikov
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:64
    Content type: Research Published on:

  21. This study presents the results of a review whose goal is to generate knowledge on the possible levers of action concerning per diem practices in southern countries in order to propose reforms to the existing ...

    Authors: Oumar Mallé Samb, Christiane Essombe and Valery Ridde
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:48
    Content type: Research Published on:

  22. Research on changing dietary practices is rare in lower and middle income countries, and understanding the impact of global economic processes on population health and nutrition is important, especially of rur...

    Authors: Jordan Sky Oestreicher, Deusilene Pereira do Amaral, Carlos José Sousa Passos, Myriam Fillion, Donna Mergler, Robert Davidson, Marc Lucotte, Christina A. Romaña and Frédéric Mertens
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:36
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. Development assistance for health (DAH) is one of the most important means for Japan to promote diplomacy with developing countries and contribute to the international community. This study, for the first time...

    Authors: Shuhei Nomura, Haruka Sakamoto, Maaya Kita Sugai, Haruyo Nakamura, Keiko Maruyama-Sakurai, Sangnim Lee, Aya Ishizuka and Kenji Shibuya
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:32
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Globalization and Health 2021 17:2

  24. Public research organizations and their interactions with industry partners play a crucial role for public health and access to medicines. The development and commercialization of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV...

    Authors: Rosa Jahn, Olaf Müller, Stefan Nöst and Kayvan Bozorgmehr
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:22
    Content type: Research Published on:

  25. Donor countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been among the largest donors in the world. However, little is known about their co...

    Authors: Yingxi Zhao, Angela E. Micah, Stephen Gloyd and Joseph L. Dieleman
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2020 16:14
    Content type: Research Published on:

  26. Cities are an important driving force to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda. The SDGs provide an operational framework to consider urbanization globally, while providin...

    Authors: Oriana Ramirez-Rubio, Carolyn Daher, Gonzalo Fanjul, Mireia Gascon, Natalie Mueller, Leire Pajín, Antoni Plasencia, David Rojas-Rueda, Meelan Thondoo and Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2019 15:87
    Content type: Research Published on:

  27. Addressing the social and other non-biological determinants of health largely depends on policies and programmes implemented outside the health sector. While there is growing evidence on the effectiveness of i...

    Authors: Finn McGuire, Lavanya Vijayasingham, Anna Vassall, Roy Small, Douglas Webb, Teresa Guthrie and Michelle Remme
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2019 15:86
    Content type: Research Published on:

  28. A recurring discussion in the literature relates to the possible contradictions among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The focus has been on economic goals, such as economic growth and goals related t...

    Authors: Peter Hangoma and Gavin Surgey
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2019 15:82
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  29. The increase in problematic substance use is a major problem in Canada and elsewhere, placing a heavy burden on health and justice system resources given a spike in drug-related offences. Thus, achievement of ...

    Authors: Regiane A. Garcia, Kristi Heather Kenyon, Claire E. Brolan, Juliana Coughlin and Daniel D. Guedes
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2019 15:80
    Content type: Research Published on:

  30. Industrial food animal production (IFAP) is characterized by dense animal housing, high throughput, specialization, vertical integration, and corporate consolidation. Research in high-income countries has docu...

    Authors: Yukyan Lam, Jillian P. Fry and Keeve E. Nachman
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2019 15:40
    Content type: Research Published on:

  33. In the last decade, efforts have been made in Latin America and the Caribbean to advance in the methodological development of evidence based clinical practice guidelines, among other strategies to improve the ...

    Authors: Paula Andrea Cabrera and Rodrigo Pardo
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2019 15:14
    Content type: Research Published on:

  34. To review the publicly available policies and commitments of selected food companies in Thailand relating to obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) prevention, and to assess these stated policies and com...

    Authors: Nisachol Cetthakrikul, Sirinya Phulkerd, Nongnuch Jaichuen, Gary Sacks and Viroj Tangcharoensathien
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2019 15:12
    Content type: Research Published on:

Globalization and Health

ISSN: 1744-8603